A Little Something
by Rose Melissa Ivashkov
Summary: Sydney had been assigned to many alchemist missions, all rough and strange. But this new mission, it was the strangest one of all. Only because she was being used as a biological experiment, carrying a creature of the night. Inside of her.
1. Chapter 1

**Here is my newest project. I won't make into a story, unless I get enough reviews. Even then, I will have to think about it. I am only writing this story because Bloodlines comes out in a few days (exactly on the day of my birthday!) and I want to enjoy that book. I have been hearing things about the couples in that story and I thought it was adorable! So, I had to write this 'cause it had been bugging my head for a long time. And as mentioned, I want to **_**enjoy **_**the book. Not like the last three books of the VA series, where each second spent reading was wishing Adrian and Rose stayed together and that Dimitri died. Anyway, hope you like. **

**I don't own VA. . .**

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><p><strong>A Little Something:<strong>

I shoved my hands deep inside the pockets of my long, tan trench coat as I stood at the steps of an old cathedral in Spain. There was nothing here for me, here in the busy towns and streets of Europe. I had traveled the whole European continent for the past four months. Sure, I had had my fun, _lots of fun, _but it was time to go back, to those that I needed to get to…because there was nothing in these places that held my attention.

Yesterday I had been indecisive of going back home, but today I was decisive of my decision and…I was nostalgic, homesick. I missed home and everything that it had to offer, something I could not find here. Why had I stayed if I knew I could not find that which I had been seeking? I said my mental goodbye to the cathedral, the striking sights, and walked off to the Main Street of Spain where taxis were driving up and down the way.

As I walked, I caught the attention of a ring with a pendant that matched the color of the blowing hair image in my mind. The band was straight, but surrounding was a steel material that twisted and twirled all around the band, just like the woman image in my head. She could be completely gentle and _plain_, but she sometimes twisted and twirled around the _mad_.

I bought the ring and made my way to the corner of the street; I waved my hand up in the air and called for a taxi, using the European dialect. I was rushed off to the airport in minutes, boarding the private airplane that belonged to the Ivashkov-Tarus family within the same hour, and arriving to my destination the next day. I took an hour out of the day to ready myself for the days ahead before I was calling a chauffeur from the royal court to take me back home.

The straight roads were barren, empty of the many cars this side of the world was accustomed to seeing. They, the side of the roads, had a vast amount of greenery, the scenery we passed, but nothing held the interest of the attention that need desperate consideration lately. Maybe it was the large, green sign that came into my field of vision that awoken those senses that had been dormant for the past few months.

Only a few miles away from home.

It was like the regular Adrian came out.

I told the driver I wanted to listen to the kind of music I had been denying for the past months. Once the speakers were blaring with the music I loved, a new Adrian Ivashkov replaced the one that had been invading my body just a few moments ago, the one that had gone to Europe for a desperate escape. Oh, Party Boy Adrian Ivashkov was back in town. Hell, yeah!

Within the hour, the car was pulling up into the gates of the royal court. I was eager to get off the car and go find those I loved. The sad thing about that—I would not go to my "family" first. The only family that I had actually cared for me had died. Even after everything, I still had a few friends that I considered family. The driver dropped me off beside a building.

I closed my eyes again, for about a second or so, as I entered the—what the kids called a _party_. There was another brief image in my head, the precise reason why I had ran off to Europe in the first place. Slowly, the image in my head was replaced: Dark brown morphing into a soft blonde; dark brown eyes changing a shade lighter; snappy attitude switching to sweet temperament.

I saw _her. _

Man, from the first time she had smiled at him, after a month or so of knowing her—_she _had me. She had awakened those dormant feelings that the other woman had forced into hiding. It was _she _that had been my comfort, temporary comfort. If not for her, I probably would have been buried under the ground right next to my precious aunt.

I was given precious time, a month to get to know her. I knew she was somewhat bored standing at the _party. _I ignored her, though, opting to greet everyone else first. From Eddie, Christian, Lissa, Jill, and those few others standing around, I shook hands or gave out hugs accordingly, and I even shook Dimitri's hand. Rose and Sydney were the last two, Rose standing in front of Sydney.

I grinned, heart relieved at finally seeing her. "I've missed you," I said towards Rose's way.

"Adrian, so glad you are back?" Rose said, sounding a bit confused.

I stepped forward. Rose acted as if to hug me. . .but I pushed her out of my way, slightly.

My attention was only for the blonde girl that was named after an Australian place.

_A lonely feeling replaced with a feeling of "complete." _

With a massive hug, Sydney accepted the offer into my hands, into my embrace.

I pulled back, a little, to study her features. "The world can die tonight, and I would not feel one hint of fear in me 'cause I just got to see you finally."

The flustered Sydney responded to that, "You were gone. You left without a goodbye."

I shrugged. "I know. But I brought you a present to make up for the time." I winked at her.

Eyes watched us mingle with curiosity, but everyone was ignored.

"Let's go somewhere else," I suggested, raising an eyebrow at her. "I would love it if you followed me into my room. Yeah, my room. I would like that a lot if you went to my room with me. We can get naked. . ."

Sydney smacked my arm. "You haven't been here ten minutes and already you are thinking of having sex. You are so..._Adrian Ivashkov_." Sydney pushed me out the door. "Not naked, but I will go to your room."

"Listen, I just stopped by to invite you to my orgy later on. . ."

"God, I won't even comment on that. But I will ask how do people handle you for so long. I have known you for about a...month?—and already I feel like shooting myself."

I kept on with the sexual comments. "Sydney, I wouldn't mind you in my bed tonight. What do you say? As a welcome back gift." I reached over and grabbed a strand of her hair. She had sexy, silky blonde hair. She was sexy herself. "I am just kidding. I know you and your _pureness_. I would never want to take advantage of that."

Sydney rolled her eyes.

"So, tell me: what is new in life?"

"Rose. She made fun of me for being a virgin." To tease her, I laughed at her. She elbowed me in the ribs. "_That _and your words, have me thinking."

"About what, gorgeous Australian place?"

Sydney shook her head. "I was thinking about"—cough—"not being _one_."

I was shocked.

"I have known you for a month, or thereabout."

"And?"

"Isn't...don't people do random or casual?"

"Yeah, but is not the way to go. Right way, that is."

"But—I hate being teased about it. I am probably the only teenager right now...all _pure._"

I had no clue what to say. "Have you...ever been kissed?"

"Yeah. . .no. I was always on alchemist missions; never had time for any having fun situations." Poor girl. "See? How embarrassing."

We stopped walking at a glass hallway that showed an awesome view of the night (day for us).

"Oh, look at the moonlight. It has been a while since I slowed down to look at it."

Sydney remained with her talk. "Adrian, why don't you...do me the favor?"

I turned towards her. "Sydney, you are so pretty."

I heard her gulp.

"I am not kidding, Adrian."

I was quiet.

It probably was an hour before I spoke again. Okay, not literally, but a while did pass before I spoke again.

I didn't even look at her. "I will...do you the favor."

"I will owe you one."

"But. . ." Yeah. I always set conditions.

"What?"

I told her the truth, exactly how I felt about this situation. "I don't want it to be just a favor."

Sydney looked at me, confused. "What do you want it to be?"

I slipped the European ring, the one that had put her in my thoughts not long ago, on her finger.

I took her face gently in my hands. "We can start with a kiss. . ."

Sydney and I kissed, a promise of a future with each other, with the moonlight as the witness.

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><p><strong>Tell me your thoughts! This was something new to write. I liked it. Maybe I can turn it into a story, if you agree. Anyway, have a nice night. Thanks for reading! And take care! <strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**I couldn't sleep and look at what happened. **

**My new story. Before you start reading this chapter, I want you to know some things. **

**1) If you're expecting to read an exact replica of how the characters in Bloodlines are presented as you read this story, then I suggest we don't waste each other's time and stop reading now. There was controversy on my other story about how I had all the characters "off character". Truth is—they are right. And I don't care. That is what I intended, to be different. If I wanted to make all characters exactly how they exactly are in the book, then I would have to be Richelle Mead and sadly I am not. **

**2) Don't expect the story to be similar to those already posted on the Adrian/Sydney page. I like creating my own ideas and I very much respect every writer on here. I know how it feels—it is hell thinking up on ideas and it's quite shitty when people steal your ideas. **

**3) I am scared of writing this about this couple, but I have fallen in love with Adrian/Sydney as much as I used to adore the idea of Adrian/Rose together. **

**4) Again the same point as 1: I'm making my own storyline so don't be surprised with what you see. The storyline is based off "it would be cool if. . ." plot. I don't want to follow the real Bloodlines and how the characters really are 'cause that is why they call this Fanfiction and that is why the books have Richelle Mead printed on the cover. **

**Be nice to me as this will my first real A/S story. **

**Hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed writing. **

**I don't own. Richelle Mead gets paid to write these books. I just like borrowing her characters and making my "it would be cool if. . .".**

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><p>The kissing scene between Adrian and me had happened and gone and now we were back in Palm Springs. I still thought about the way Adrian's lips felt on mine and how soft his lips had been and how well he had tasted. Though the thoughts of him kissing me did not leave my mind, the wants to kiss him again did not leave my craving body, I promised kissing Adrian—or anyone—would not happen ever again. I was an alchemist and the only time I would settle down was when my father chose another alchemist made of the same qualities as I was made of for me to settle down and procreate with.<p>

I could not be distracted by anything else until I was allowed to settle.

For once in quite a while, I was thankful I was back basking in the sunshine rather than basking in the bad temperaments of those who walked the hallways of the royal court. I had a constant headache throughout the visit, a headache caused by the too obvious stares people gave me at the royal court. I was much more content here, dealing with people that were too attractive to have a mind, than dodging hard looks at the royal court.

"Would you be kind enough to tell me what you are doing here, parked _inconspicuously _on this curb?"

I glanced forward again, fearful of what I was seeing.

"I know that face. . . You are up to something—what is the word I should use to describe such task?—dexterous. I want to know what has your mind all stormy and has your face showing what you won't say."

Exhausted of endless comments, I pointed across the street at a casual woman making her way to her car as she pushed a shopping cart out of the supermarket. She glanced around calmly, nonchalantly smiling at everyone she passed. Her pale skin and her too tall form was such a contrast to the normal people and sunshine of Palm Springs. I clutched my cross. There were only a few creatures of the night I had become accustomed to and sometimes I was distrustful with those I was familiar with.

"Does everything make you paranoid?"

I finally sighed and removed my watchful eyes off the woman in front of me. "Yes. _You_ top that list, Adrian."

"She is Moroi. . .what is making you uneasy? I am Moroi. Do I make you paranoid?" There was a cocky grin on Adrian's lips, a grin I was too aware of, too aware the grin was quite attractive, that he was quite good-looking himself.

"I believe I have already answered your question."

"Sydney, even though I hate to admit it, we have a badass guardian in town. If that Moroi woman is up to something. . .I am sure our badass guardian can take her down."

I released my cross from in between my fingers, still worried about the sight in front of me. The woman had mysteriously shown up in Palm Springs one day and she now was even becoming comfortable in her apartment a few streets away from where I now lived. It disturbed me meeting new people, creatures of the night especially, albeit meeting strangers was something I should have been accustomed to a _long _time ago as I had gone around for some time now. It wasn't new faces that made me worried; it was the people that came into my way when I was still on duty, still under alchemist commands. I did not want anything happen to my charge: Jill.

"I want to know what she is doing here. She showed up uninvited. I wonder if the others, as in those who brought Jill here, should know about this? What if I tell Eddie? Should I tell Eddie? He would know what to do—" I stopped myself from saying anything. This was one of my rare hysterical moments. Seconds later, I collected myself and calmly said to Adrian, "I'll have one of my superiors look into this."

"That is the girl I like, the one that knows how to kick ass. Silently and calmly. Why did I think temperamental and feisty girls were my type? If only I knew I would dig another type. But I guess my earlier likes aren't exactly lost because I know there is a temperamental and feisty girl in you, somewhere deep, deep in you, but still in there. . ." Adrian's words faded from my hearing as I started my useful car. "Oh, Sydney—look! There is a donkey crossing the street. It's time to be paranoid!"

I decided not to comment on his lovely statement. I opted for saying, "Also, I will have to ask my superiors if they could somehow remove unwanted company from my presence." My tone suggested everything I wouldn't say.

Ten minutes later, Adrian and I were parked in the driveway that led to his apartment—that led to my apartment now. Someone's _creative and quite charming mind_ had acted on this _marvelous _idea of renting an apartment for me in a location that made me neighbors with Adrian. I did the sign of the cross. Hopefully nobody had witnessed my use of mental sarcasm. When I had asked the man that come up with such idea why Adrian and I had to be neighbors, the only answer he had given me was something around the lines of "change might be coming and you two need to be together." The only change—Adrian had undergone; he now had to be buddies with the man that stole his woman.

Adrian and the whole Dimitri situation was the only drama flattering Palm Springs as of now, now that the "vampire hunter" had been defeated.

I craved an adventure—or an alchemist mission—similar to the one I was assigned to do when I was chasing after Rose Hathaway, commanded by the _great_ European Don—Abe Mazur. Sure I had not been doing anything legal when I was with Rose, but I had been allowed the luxury to use my quick-thinking mind and opinion in every situation. I wanted an alchemist mission, an actual mission where I could use my vast know-how intelligence to solve some inexplicable situations.

I was an alchemist—I did not want to sound arrogant here—that surpassed others those of my age; I knew my way around, so to speak, much the same way Rose was in her field of division.

I was an alchemist, an alchemist that had seen more than what was between the lines—and I was stuck in Palm Springs doing anything that wasn't any more interesting than watching a palm tree.

"Sydney, I don't think I can leave this car at this moment with my greatest friend invading the walls of my home," Adrian said in a tone too cheerful for the words he had just used.

"I was kind of hoping you would notice I did not want you in here with me."

"Did something unkind come out of your mouth?" Adrian was ready to leave the car when he turned back to me. "I'll exchange a foot massage for the allowance of myself in your comfortable presence and apartment."

"No." If he was not getting out of this car then I sure was. _See, this is how interesting Palm Springs is each day. _

"Come on. I know you need massage. Your feet must hurt in those simple and flat shoes you choose to wear each day. I don't know about you, but boring shoes always make my feet cramp up. Maybe you should start wearing those cute stilettoes with the bows and glitter and large platforms but not so big platforms—those would be hot on you."

"Adrian, get out of my car."

As soon as I get out of my car, for some reason, my feet began to ache, from the soles to the ankles to every small part that made up a foot.

"Makes me wish for money so I can purchase some shoes for you."

"You don't have money?"

I meant it as a rhetorical question but Adrian answered anyway. Honesty, nothing really could stop that mouth, except my outbursts, according to some recent studies of mine. Hmm. . .

"I don't have money," Adrian repeated. "A fact that saddens me because not so long ago I was filled with all the riches I craved."

"I have a reason to contradict your words," I began, observing our conjoined driveway. "Why is there a Porsche parked in your part of the driveway?"

"I thought he was just kidding when he said this." Adrian finally emerged from my car and went to gloat over his new possession. "My _ex_-father-in-law is one cool man. He promised a present for being so wise in giving him valuable information. I never knew his gifts would be so great."

"If you keep on _dealing _with him, you'll see how valuable his gifts can get," I muttered, really hoping Adrian had not heard me but wishing he had. "You get this for lazing around and giving—God, pardon me for saying this—Satan some answers? Huh. I get a station wagon for dealing with this mess they put in my life."

I began to walk away from Adrian to my apartment.

"Mess? Be specific. Who do you refer to as 'mess'?"

"You, Adrian." As I unlocked my apartment door, I glanced towards Adrian's way and gave him my sweetest smile. There was another _one of those_ smiles on his lips that made me grateful I was locked up and somewhat safe in my apartment, for a blush darkened and warmed my cheeks.

The next morning I awoke to a pang in my heart. Despite everything, I missed having Jill as my roommate. Sometimes, I worried for her, even though I knew my replacement was taking good care of her. Instead of dwelling another morning in loneliness, I decided to think up of some thoughts that should be forbidden: I thought about Adrian and the way he had given me _my _first kiss.

My mental mantra of before darkened my good thoughts.

_You can't be distracted. You can't be distracted. You can't be—_

Knocks interrupted my mental advice and I was distracted.

I pulled my hair up in a fast ponytail and answered the door.

My paranoia was standing in my doorway, looking as casual as she had at the grocery store yesterday.

"Good morning, ma'am. How can I help you at this hour?"

"Are you Sydney Sage/" The woman glanced at a small paper in her hand. A photo of me, I presumed. "Yes, yes you are."

I moved away from her only slightly, moving the door closer to the doorframe in case I had to shut it quickly.

"In what way could I service you?" I repeated.

"For one, I am sorry to disturb you so early." The woman reached into her bag and pulled out a large, luxurious envelope with drawings and designs that had my mind recalling architectural buildings of Europe. "I have important correspondence for you sent by the royal court executives. I assume you must already know what is happening? I am Andrea, by the way."

"Would you be kind enough to explain, Andrea?" I asked.

"Briefly. I will only tell you what I know." Since she did not seem dangerous, I invited her inside my apartment. After she was sitting down, she told me what she knew. "The dhampir reduction has gone down drastically, farther than anyone could have foreseen for these years. The dhampir are scarce and that is the sad truth. We already have Moroi fighting alongside dhampir and anyone can see that will not be enough for the decreasing numbers of dhampir. A group of people, myself included, created a group of our own. Story cut short—we came up with the conclusion that we need a new race, created by an alchemist and Moroi gamete combining."

"And how am I involved in all this?"

"Moroi began to volunteer by their own free will. Alchemist were slightly hesitant. But finally we had some volunteers." Andrea smiled lightly at me. "I believe this is my time to leave." She stood up and exited my apartment but not after placing the envelope in my hand. Almost terrified, I opened the envelope and began reading the first page that came to my view.

The first page was useless. I flipped to the next page. Usually, I would read every little world for my better understanding. Now, I just wanted to know what was happening! On the second page there was nothing but a note from Andrea: I was thrilled when I saw your name on the list. I've heard many things about you and it's said you are an exquisite alchemist, one of the best.

And the last page, I finally knew what was happening.

_Chosen one has met requirements: _

_Age: 18_

_Height: A little over the average height_

_Hair color: Blonde _

_Eye color: Brown_

_Status: Respected Alchemist _

_You have been selected to carry the new race of dhampir. _

_Signed: _Vasilisa Dragomir

Terrified and hysterical, I sought out Adrian.

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><p><strong>Well, what do you think? <strong>

**Thank you for taking the time to read! **

**Take care, guys! **

**-Melissa **


	3. Chapter 3

**Must thank you all for the great reviews! I wasn't expecting them to be so great. As a reward, I have a new chapter for you. It is very late here and I have school tomorrow so excuse any mistakes. I'll change them when I get out of school. **

**Enjoy, hopefully!**

****I don't own. Richelle Mead gets paid to write these books. I just like borrowing her characters and making my "it would be cool if. . .".****

Adrian's "guard dog" paced the front yard when I approached his apartment a few feet away from mine. I remembered Adrian's stoic roommate telling me he suffered of insomnia because he had been so accustomed to a regular living schedule and the change was quite drastic. Right when he noticed my terrified expression he was alerted and immediately stopped his pacing and was by my side instantly. I tried to rearrange my worried features into better ones. Must have worked because he relaxed, blessedly.

"Guardian Belikov."

"Sydney." He nodded at me. "You came to see Adrian?"

"Yes, I came to see my neighbor. If you'll excuse me. . ."

I passed the guardian and entered the apartment. Inside, I was not sure of which direction to go but soft snores were a guide that led me to a sleeping Adrian. There was a certain feeling making my heart pound, terror. A second later, I knew terror wasn't the only feeling making my heart beat as such. Adrian was gorgeous while sleeping just as he continued to be throughout the day, napping or not. _He _was making my heart beat faster than usual, as he always did.

My worries faded—never mind that. The hysterical thoughts that had swarmed my mind subsided to a point where I was aware of the thoughts but I chose to be ignorant. I stepped forward into his bedroom, quietly making my eyes to his bed. With a shaking hand, rather tentative to do so, I reached out and touched his warm shoulder. The world paused for a few seconds. Ah. Jill was right. He did sleep like a "vampire in his coffin".

I somewhat distracted and never noticed the guardian behind me until he closed Adrian's door.

Oh. . .God.

There really was no running away anymore. The window was in the room but I had to go over Adrian for that to happen because in his Adrian moments he claimed "it would be safer if my bed was closer to the window. . .it would be easier for you to access me in case you wanted to cuddle with me."

_No distractions_, my mind reminded me.

I glanced away from the window and back to Adrian. A definite distraction, a statement of mine that needed to be said. He slept shirtless. His legs were visible to me, among all the skin that was visible. I was aware of my heart wanting to beat through my chest; I was aware of how gorgeous he was. Daring once more, I touched his shoulder once again.

"Adrian. Adrian. Adrian!" I whispered, repeatedly touching his shoulder.

I never saw the moment when Adrian laced his fingers with mine and brought me down. With him. On top of him, to be exact. I was quick to move myself off him—or try—but his arms, a steel cuff around me, hadn't allowed as such. I opted for placing my arms on either side of his body, lifting myself away from him.

A Sydney from the past, the Sydney Sage that wasn't distracted so easily by distractions, would have fought and fought until she was free. Sydney Melrose wasn't complaining of where she was, though she was quite uncomfortable—_what was I saying?_—I was quite comfortable.

Adrian's eyes popped open; a grin lightened his already gorgeous features.

"What do you think of my fast-acting abilities, Sage? Pretty cool, huh?"

"Good morning" was all I could manage.

"Very good morning, indeed." I tried escaping once more. Adrian made a face at me. "I know my morning breath is not so bad. I have to wake up every hour to give myself dental hygiene. A man chasing after a young woman has to look good and therefore smell equally as good."

I made a face at him, remembering those many trips lately he had made me take for cleaning products and. . .toothpaste.

Discussing inconsequential business wasn't why I was here.

"Adrian, I need to speak with you." It sounded serious, so I decided to change my words. "I need to talk to somebody."

"Dimitri is always willing," Adrian said sarcastically.

"I've only heard him speak about a hundred words ever since I came to know him."

"I have something to rival that. I have better conversations with myself when I clip my nails than when I am around him." Adrian placed a hand on my hip and changed the subject. I felt the rush of heat transferred from his balmy hand to my hip. "Talk? You need to talk? Talk to me on top, Sage. I like you on top."

"This is serious, Ivashkov. I am afraid."

The desperation in my voice moved him to switch me to his side rather than on top of him. He still was too close, though.

I had never been so close to him—to any other male—inside a bed, while we were both so exposed. I was clothed in a pajama dress bought by Jill. I had denied the gift at first but when Jill smiled, my younger sister's face materialized in my mind. And then I gave in. The silk gown was not suitable attire to be in a bed with a half-naked male, especially if the man was known to have casual affairs indiscriminately.

Perhaps my feelings about being in bed with Adrian, albeit only chaste actions were happening, halted the many words I wanted to release from my lips.

"Talk to me, Sydney," he whispered gently.

I swallowed twice and told him what was bothering my usually peaceful mind.

I had thought I could go on and on but I took only three minutes in telling him.

"I can't be a. . .lab mother," I choked out, almost giving into the craving of allowing my tears to flow. I had never been _this _scared in my life. "I can barely stand the creatures of the night, with the exception of those I have grown to know and care about, and having one of _them _growing—_inside_ _me_—repulses me endlessly. And I have been chosen to host the unnatural being in my uterus. I can't get out of this now."

"You said it yourself, Sage. You can't get away. Once they want you, they have you. A sad truth that binds you to the royal court and its nasty politics." Adrian squeezed my hand. All hope was lost for me. "It won't be so bad. I still have connections at court and I heard the pay is ridiculously vast. Nine months of carrying an experiment in you, in exchange for a ridiculous amount of money is a good deal, which is why I signed myself up as a volunteer," Adrian announced. "Not to carry one in me 'cause that is impossible, but to donate some of my kids."

My throat was clogged with all the emotions that wanted to rush out in that second.

"You are overwhelming yourself with unnecessary worries. Give them what they want and they'll give you what you want: freedom and some bonus gifts." Adrian reached over to his nightstand and showed me a small paper. It was a picture of an alchemist I once was paired with to do a test mission. "Andrea made good accommodations for me, so to speak. My alchemist breeder—her name is Sasha Mata and she'll have the great honor of helping me procreate. We're going to be a good match, I think, for the nine months. And then we'll be on our way. As easy as that."

I wanted to vomit all over Adrian's bed.

Instead, I moved away from and out of his bed and almost ran out the door.

"Sydney! Sage! Where you going?"

I briefly took notice of Dimitri standing in the living room but I was far too gone to really notice him, what he was doing.

I slowed my steps and turned back to Adrian. "I know what I need to do."

I stomped my way to my apartment, slamming the door behind me.

Unreasonable thoughts clouded my mind.

All I needed was to _not _be Sydney Sage.

I grabbed the envelope and reread the papers that were sure to give me nightmares. I read, carefully, reading every little word and every word I did not know I searched it in the dictionary. The last official document was gold but it was a stab to my heart. _The chosen one was volunteered by Jared Sage._

My own father had done this to me.

I found my phone under my pillow and was quick to dial my father's number. I waited impatiently as he answered on the second ring. And the way I talked when he answered the phone—I had _never _done such thing in my life. I was so damn thankful I was almost on the other side of the country because if I had been in his presence, the consequences would have been imaginable. . .bad.

"Get me out if this mess!" I screamed at him.

"Sydney, what is it you are talking about?"

"Surely, you must know! You volunteered my well-being for this! They want to use me as a biological experiment!"

"We need the money. Zoe is too young and Carly would never be willing. You are the only hope left."

"You told me money should never be the issue in our family. Why are you not keeping true to that?"

"Sydney, a tragedy in the family has made me believe that without money, you are nothing ."

"What tragedy would make you change your opinion? Are you finally influenced by those rich friends you love playing golf with? Did they contaminate your mind with delusions?"

When my father spoke he sounded much older and very pained. "Your mother is ill. Treatments are beyond my affordance. We need the money. You have no other choice." My father took in a breath and I could hear the same desperation in him that I was feeling. "You are the last hope."

"You can't do this to me! This is going beyond what I grew up with. We grew up believing _they _were bad and now you want me to get involved with _them,_ have their children? You can't—"

My insanity stopped when I heard the words "It is an order, Sydney Sage."

The answer was automatic from my lips. Tears finally spilled and smeared and stained my cheeks. I had eighteen years of life and being ordered was a common thing; I always responded the same words each time I was commanded by the respected alchemist my father had grown to be. "Yes, sir," I whispered desperately. The words came from my mouth, even if everything I was feeling inside contradicted the words.

A sacrifice for a sacrifice.

My mother needed to be saved and I needed to be a mother to save my mother.

I was helpless.

I was hopeless.

It was done.

I could never disagree with or refuse my father's command.

**Well?**

**Take care! **

**Thanks for reviewing but mostly thanks for reading! **

**-Mel **

**PS. I am changing the title, so don't be scared. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Excuse my absence. School is almost over, well the semester, and teachers stuff us with homework and whatnot so everything is so hectic. I wrote this today in class. Hopefully you like! Again, sorry for the mistakes I will correct them when I have time. **

**I didn't thank them earlier but thanks to GreekGleekSalvatore, cillyadrian, Disha (I missed ya, girl!), and your demonic assassin—for their wonderful reviews! Thank you! To all of you who review, but mostly for reading my story!**** I need your help, guys. I don't know what to name this story. What do you guys think? **

**I don't own. Richelle Mead gets paid to write these books. I just like borrowing her characters and making my "it would be cool if. . .".**

Miserable and devastated, I sat alone in the living room couch of my apartment. The movie playing on the TV was quite comical to me but very depressing as it was about a woman who wanted to have a baby so she opted for artificial insemination to make her dreams come true, saying she was ready and did not unsupportive men to surround her. She _wanted _to have a baby. I was being _forced_ to do this. . .baby experiment.

Adding to things, I was deathly ill. My illness was not exactly deathly but a dirt nap did sound appealing. Anything that would help me avoid a date—a date exactly five weeks from yesterday—I would gladly do. _Never imagined I would be summoned so quickly after I told Andrea my official decision of accepting to become a mother. _As mentioned, I would do anything to avoid that date.

I tried to see in the same point of view as Adrian.

Nine months and the—_experiment_—and I would be on our separate ways.

Adrian's view was an unreliable and glamourized outlook.

Infinite things could happen in those nine months.

_God, I know you have my back in this and you are the only faith that keeps me here. _

I was startled when I heard a loud knock on my window. Sane people would have knocked on the door. A sane person wasn't behind me door, or by my window, so I knew Adrian was the knocking person. He knocked a few more times until he finally realized I was not answering the door to anyone. I wrapped the blanket around myself tighter, closing my eyes at the sudden ache in my head.

When I opened my eyes again, Adrian was standing in my living room, staring down at me.

"If you didn't want to see me, you should have told me something."

"I am pretty sure me not answering the door would have been answer enough."

"You're being a little mean, don't you think? Yesterday you threw in my face you hated my kind, my race. If you're going to be that way—I am telling you, I don't enjoy hypocrisy."

I grabbed a tissue from a box nearby and wiped the mess off my face as I recalled my "tantrum" of yesterday. I was embarrassed of my actions and I knew had done wrong. I had almost insulted the whole world and damned my sisters for being unfit for the "rare alchemist mission". I had even disrespected my father and that was bad enough by itself.

"I am sorry. I went too far insulting you," I whispered. "I am not rational when I'm afraid. With how irrational I was. . .you can assume what my feelings were—are about this deal."

Adrian sat down beside me and took hold of my hand. Normally, those gestures sent my heart racing. Now, my mind was too distracted to notice. Distracted by him.

"Sydney, it will be alright. Stop being so pessimistic." Adrian reached over with his fingers, brushing a few strands of hair away from my face, all the while he started into my eyes and those distracting emotions took over control. It was an intimate moment, a beautiful moment. . .he leaned into me, already positioning his head to kiss me. . .such an admirable moment—ruined by a scary-sounding sneeze coming from me.

Embarrassed, I grabbed another tissue, wiping my nose and handing one to him.

"Sorry."

"You better be, Sage," he muttered but he was laughing.

"That was disgusting on my part."

"You are still so lovely," Adrian said with a smile.

A homey retort made itself known, accompanied by a smile. "When is sneezing on a guy's face so lovely?"

"It was. Your facial expression was lovely." Adrian laid down against the couch and pulled me down with him, my back across his chest. I already had accepted a deal with the devil and I was pretty sure giving into these distractions were less harming to myself than the deals with Abe. I made myself comfortable against Adrian. "Now that you have me here, I'll be your therapist."

"Therapist? Or psychologist?"

"Any of both. Or both. I can be whatever makes you happy."

"Right. . .I want you to turn into a parachute."

"Sometimes, you can't make everyone happy," Adrian muttered. "Serious now. Tell me your feelings, Sage."

"You're never serious, Adrian."

"I am now."

"Well. . ."

"You're not taking advantage of my great kindness, but _I _will take advantage of your hesitation. I have to tell you my feelings." Adrian took a breath, preparing himself to speak. "I am speaking from the heart now. . .I feel many thins towards you. They are very confusing sometimes. I can't ever really determine what those feelings are. But. . .one could quite possibly be. . .love."

The tissue box fell out of my hands. I stopped moving and I stopped breathing. The only thing I was aware of was. . .of how fast my heart was beating. Hopefully the noise wasn't as loud as my ears perceived it. _He is not lying. I can see it in his eyes as he looks at me. He loves me! _

His lips were on mine again, quite awkwardly because of the position we were in—his lips, so smooth, so soft, so placating. Comforting enough that I calmed and actually enjoyed myself. _You can't be distracted—_screw that. I was done being all reserved. _You are welcomed to my word, Distractions. Especially if you come in the form of Adrian's kisses. _I liked kissing Adrian. Very much.

I moved but the movement caused Adrian's lips and mine to disjoin.

"Something wrong, Sydney?"

"Oh, damn. We can't kiss anymore 'cause you're going to catch my cold."

"That is useless now. I can heal myself, you know, so it doesn't worry me." Adrian laughed under me. "Well, Sydney, it seemed you took pleasure in kissing me. That's quite hot."

"Like everything makes me paranoid, you think everything is hot. Is that a male thing? Or is just one of your bizarre things?" I, thinking it through again, enjoyed his bizarre things.

Adrian nodded. "Males are almost machines, expect when they fall in love. Their hearts are in control now." Adrian subtly, or maybe not, slid his hands around me. I liked that.

"Knowing you—I can tell love is something that doesn't happen to you, right?"

"If only you knew. I have one of the weakest hearts. Many people like me and when I love them, they can't return the sentiment and that sucks. For me, at least. I am hoping things will change this time around." Adrian's sentence was loaded with suggestion; he was referring to me. His green eyes found themselves on mine, giving me a meaningful look. "I am glad it was you, the new owner of my heart, Sydney."

I couldn't say anything. . .only because my mouth was busy coughing.

"Remember the royal court, when I came back from Europe? Something about doing it right, dating and being happy, not rushing into. . .stuff? I still owe you. . .remember what we talked about? I still owe you that favor, only it won't be a favor anymore because we'll both want to do this. . ."

I was confused for a slight second before my mind was filled with conversation from a few weeks back.

"_I don't want it to be just a favor." _

_I looked at Adrian, confused. "What do you want it to be?" _

_He slipped the European ring, the one that had put me in his thoughts not long ago, _or he'd told me so_, on my finger. _

_He took my face gently in my hands. "We can start with a kiss. . ." _

"I am having a baby," I almost cried out. "Not yet pregnant, but going to be. With a stranger's child. That is basically going against everything I have grown up with. I was given the order to wait till I was well into my marriage to think about being pregnant. And now I am having a stranger's baby! A stranger! Not that man I am married to. I can't ever have anything real with the man I care about—those are the effects of having a stranger's child. It sounds horrible and it is horrible."

Adrian stared at me for a while. "Sydney, surely your intelligence must realize that it doesn't have to be a stranger. I am Moroi, you know. And if that doesn't mean anything—I am _male_. And you are female."

"What?"

"I am not a stranger," Adrian said.

"What are you getting at?"

"I am capable of making your child."

**Ooh! Finally we get what we want! **

**Short and sweet but got to the point! I promise next chapter will be longer! **

**Tell me your thoughts! **

**Thanks for the awesome reviews and for reading my story! **

**Take care**

**-Melissa **


	5. Chapter 5

**First of all, Merry Christmas! Or Happy Holidays! I hope you had a good time celebrating. Anyway, I been having a good time with the family for my winter break so, unfortunately, I couldn't get much writing done, though this story was always on my mind! Hopefully, you haven't forgotten about me. This chapter is slightly longer than the last, but it's just a filler. Hope you like!**

****I don't own. Richelle Mead gets paid to write these books. I just like borrowing her characters and making my "it would be cool if. . .".****

Almost five weeks later (four weeks, six days to be specific), I "fainted" on my bed and miraculously a blanket fell over me as I fell; my fainting spell lasted for about four hours, I woke up once, and when I woke again there was light outside, afternoon light. It was a definitely much needed nap and it helped ease much stress from my system. Feeling that confused feeling when you wake up from a nap in the middle of the day, I rolled over on my bed and thought about my adventure-fading life. My thoughts seemed to focus on the next day of my life because _tomorrow_, my body, or reproductive system thought it would be a right time to be "fertile". Therefore, doctors believed it would be the best time to perform the "in-vitro process".

And although I had wanted Adrian to be my "supplier" Andrea and her team weren't having that.

And now I had to be a stranger's—_what do teens prefer to call it nowadays?—_baby momma.

I felt something vibrate under my pillow; it took me a second to realize it was my phone. Immediately, I reached out and answered it, not aware of the caller until I heard his voice. But that was all I heard. . .before I heard a dead line. As soon as the phone went dead, I heard movement inside my home. Alarmed, I began to stand but a body slipped inside bed with me, massaging my arms first and moving downwards.

And it was quite. . .provoking.

He began to move his nose down my neck. "You smell like a. . .pond" he muttered and that was not inciting anymore.

"Adrian, what did I say about sneaking into my home? The key is for emergencies!"

"This is an emergency. I was feeling lonely."

"And this is supposed to concern me?"

"I was under the impression that you liked me."

"Is that what you think?"

"That is what I know," Adrian said with a smirk.

"You cocky peanut eater. One day you're going to choke and die unattractively while you're saying these cheeky phrases."

"That was venomous, Sage. Never before had I heard something so mean come out of your mouth." Adrian said. "And before I choke and die, as you say, I will say all that I can."

I kept quiet. Maybe he would follow up on my good example.

Adrian took a strand of my blonde hair and began to weave it around his hand. "What do you say about going on a date with me?"

"Doctors said I couldn't do anything stressing today."

"A date is not stressing with me."

I made a sarcastic noise. "A date is all the stress in the world for a girl. Especially if she has to handle someone like you."

Adrian ignored my comment. "How about we save the bickering for a time when we really need it and we use that pretty mouth of yours in a more useful way—like this. . . ." He leaned forward and kissed me.

There was everything in me deciding against me and there was something in me denying his kisses. I didn't know why but I pushed him away.

"Not today, Adrian."

"Why not? Stressed over the baby-making appointment tomorrow?"

"Yes, I am stressed but most of all I am afraid for the future developing in my path."

"What's the worst that could happen?"

"Not becoming pregnant and being a failure. I've always been good at most of everything I do and I don't want to be unsuccessful in this."

"That is not the worst, Sydney. That is the best for you. You don't get pregnant, you have another time to yourself to think about your future. And didn't Andrea say that if the embryo doesn't implant in your uterus as it should, you will be left and you can go on with your life? If you don't get pregnant, you can go on with your life."

"Perhaps. But my mother is in need of me, well the money I will bring because of my success." I put a hand to my forehead as past worries of mine came to my mind. "I just don't want to be carrying a child that is not mine. They will get a woman's ovum and mix it with a male's gamete and place the production inside my uterus. It is. . .unnatural."

"I don't know. Many women refer to these treatments when she has fertility problems." Adrian grinned a second later. "You're going to be a lab experiment. It sounds exciting."

"Adrian, I am going to do. . .something to you. You're frustrating me with each second I spend speaking to you."

"Why?"

"You're making this whole thing sound less bad than I perceived it to be a day ago. I should have realized this a long time ago—you're the unnatural one. I honestly don't know how people have dealt with you since you've been born."

"People love me all around instantly. I don't understand why you don't."

"I am not that kind of person. Even if I did love you, I don't like. . .speaking my feelings."

"Sometimes you don't have to say anything verbal, sometimes you can talk physically. Get what I am saying? If you can't figure it out. . .I can show you some of my physical conversations. Our previous kisses should be an adequate example."

I turned my back on him, temporarily irritated; I was sore and tired after series after series of tests on me—my body. I had taken close to a billion (an exaggeration but it sure felt like it) pills these last few weeks, only taken because it would boost my reproductive system. Injections weren't something I wanted to receive anytime soon that was for sure.

_This is the last day of hell, Sydney. _

Oh but little did I know.

I was determined a second later, or well I finally accepted the fact that there was no way out of this disordered and unwanted mess, I was still dreading tomorrow, but in a way I was happy I had taken a step closer to the "finish line" where all this stage of my life would be over. I decided to get out of the too comfortable bed. I was told by the doctor—in much simpler words—to be lazy today. I needed all the rest in the world and could conjure up for tomorrow, although I was told putting the embryo inside me would take but a few minutes.

"W—"

"Adrian, save it."

Inside my bathroom, I began to remove my night shirt but decided against it when I remembered Adrian was still inside my apartment. A second later, I reopened the door and peeked outside to my bedroom.

"Don't try anything while I am in the shower, as in don't peek while I am in the shower," I warned.

"No problem. My hands are going to be busy soon so be prepared 'cause I'm going to impress!"

"I am wishing you luck with that, Adrian." I closed the door on his grin and resumed my shower time.

When I walked out of my bedroom, dressed and ready for the day, there was an overpowering smell coming from the kitchen. Not overwhelming in a bad way, but in a way where you want to keep using the smelling sense. I walked a few steps more, rounded the corner, and entered the dining room to find a table full of food proper for lunch time. My stomach groaned profoundly loud, I assumed, because Adrian turned around to face me with a smirk on his face.

"Hungry?"

"A little." I shrugged.

Adrian ditched the stove to be my side; he pulled out a chair for me and returned back to the stove as I sat down.

"Where did all this food come from?"

"I cooked it."

"Funny. I don't remember buying all this frozen food." I saw a brief image of his smile as I turned and looked out the window. The tough guardian sat outside, watching, looking at. . .what this side of Palm Springs had to offer: Nothing but palm trees and tumbleweeds. Unless he found the boring actions of nature amusing (what was so interesting of a tumbleweed tumbling?), I wondered what he was watching. I cleared my mind of those rude thoughts; there was a nicer side to me. "Adrian?"

"Yes, Sydney?"

"What do you say about inviting the guardian over? I know what happened. . .but it happened and you can't change what happened."

Adrian glanced at me for a second before he nodded. "There is enough of this marvelous food to feed this whole block." He turned off the stove and set the last dish on the table. "I'll be kind enough to make the invitation myself, personally. Honestly speaking, the man is not bad. Sure he did some things. . .but life goes on."

"Life goes on," I repeated to him, to myself. "It sure as hell will. . ."

I became lost in my thoughts and when my senses found me again, Dimitri was taking a seat on one of the four chairs of my dining table.

"Good afternoon," I greeted him.

Dimitri nodded at me with a small smile, just a twitch of his lips.

Adrian seemed wary when I glanced at him, passing out plates for each of us. I slid one down the table to Dimitri. What Adrian had just said about Dimitri was it all a lie?

"How is Rose? I haven't heard of her in a while. Usually I have Abe updates but he has been silent lately."

Dimitri carefully glanced at Adrian. "She is doing well. Fighting at the royal court but not with the enemies she was trained to fight against."

"Well, thank God she is not getting pregnant anytime soon," I muttered.

I noticed Adrian flinch slightly at my words.

"I suppose but having a baby could be better than fighting people she has grown up with her whole life."

"Rose is a fighter; I don't think she minds," Adrian put in.

"I don't think she does but I convinced her to take a break with me. After all, we're both not getting anywhere at this moment."

"And you're missing being with each other," I observed.

Dimitri glanced at Adrian again, Adrian who stared down at the table as if he were trying to make the glass explode, and nodded.

"What kind of break?" Adrian asked, visibly trying to calm himself. Why was he so upset?

"We're visiting my family in Russia." Dimitri stayed quiet for a second before he stood up. "I thank you for the invitation but it is better if I leave. I have business pending."

When Dimitri was gone, Adrian exploded.

"Dammit!"

"Adrian! Calm." I put a hand on his shoulder; he was shaking uncontrollably. I observed him for a second, seeing every emotion related to hurt in his eyes. "You aren't over Rose, are you?"

Adrian walked to the door.

"So. . .everything you have been saying to me, kissing me and all that love junk, it was all lies? Were you using me just to get over Rose? The way she used you to _try _and get over Dimitri?"

Adrian stilled, stiff and tight he seemed.

"You used me," I answered for myself.

Adrian turned towards me as he reached out for me. "Sydney—I don't think I could ever be over Rose."

I felt my heart stop. "You can leave, Adrian. Make sure to lock the door behind you."

Despite it feeling like it, Adrian chasing after me hadn't been just a game for me anymore. My feelings had grown stronger for him and he. . .only had been playing, playing with my heart and feelings. I turned my back on him, the good lunch Adrian had made ruined—part of me ruined by his betrayal.

**Ohh! A slap in the face. **

**For those of you haven't read previous stories, there is always romance after the storm, so don't worry about this little tumble. **

**Hope you enjoyed.**

**Take care.**

**Share the thoughts! **

**-Mel**


	6. Chapter 6

**Happy New Years! That is all I have to say today. Chapter is short, I know. But next update. . .there will be romance! Real romance. **

**I don't own. Richelle Mead gets paid to write these books. I just like borrowing her characters and making my "it would be cool if. . .".**

**Three Months Later**

I couldn't believe it had been three months since I had last had any conversation, whether it be in person or by the aid of technology, with any living soul I was familiar with. Hopefully, they were all having great lives. . .because I certainly was not having a good life. I wanted to scream, loudly, so loud all this country would hear me and the echoes of my scream would reach the ears of a neighboring country. _They _told me all these beautiful lies upon coming here, something about "if you don't succeed in conceiving you still will be special here". And since I wanted to get away from everyone—I was feeling that extra bitterness because of Adrian's betrayal—I had agreed to be imprisoned.

I hadn't been able to conceive after not _one_, but of _six _times trying.

My knees ached but what did they care; I was tired and they couldn't care less. I glanced out the window of the hospital/housing building I was imprisoned in, as I furiously scrubbed the floors. According to the light coming in through the window, I had only a few minutes before my night shift ended. Nope, I was not working—well, I was, but I was practically a slave.

"What went wrong?" another failure (a girl that hadn't conceived) wondered beside me.

"I couldn't get pregnant. My donor and I. . .aren't compatible, if you will."

She didn't respond and it took me a second to realize she had been thinking out loud. I began my routine cleaning again, scrubbing floors by hand, using a small dish sponge to clean up the tile of a mansion-sized, or bigger, living room floor, with only the help of two other girls, the "failures", as the higher-ups loved to call us. There were six of us, out of thirty-six, that were considered failed experiments—we couldn't get pregnant.

Believe me, _they _had tried every and any method used for procreating. The two girls by my side, myself included, were now considered the house slaves, nighttime slaves because we were required to work as the night progressed, as we refused to give "breeding" another try. Yesterday, I had given it the last shot and many of us were praying it did work, though I was glad I had given it another try because my parents must have been thankful for the money that the experiments brought.

And truly, I had no more strength to give it another attempt.

If I failed this time–I failed everyone.

I did the last of my cleaning, wiped off my knees, and went back to my room. The room assigned to me was of mild luxury but the amount of time given to me to spend inside was not luxury. In fact, I only used the room to shower and sleep and then it was back to being a nighttime slave. To be inside this room—the whole place—was not much luxury anymore, even if the whole placed screamed "I AM MADE OF MONEY!"

I closed the door on the pregnant alchemist I passed. It was only a long time ago that I had jealousy over these pregnant and vibrant ladies. Now, I thought about nothing but escaping from all the confines that surrounded me. Despite all my twisted fantasies, _I was still stuck here. _I tossed my dirty clothes on a nearby chair as I undressed and turned towards the shower. As soon as I was done washing myself, I laid against my bed, wrapped in a towel. My legs ached, my arms ached, my elbows ached—my whole body ached. Those who worked night shifts—I respected them deeply because it was not an easy task, looking at all the sleeping people while working your dignity off. And it was especially hard when you worked endlessly and had no income in return, though I was grateful for the free housing.

I switched the towel for a sweater and matching sweatpants, toweling off my hair, hearing three knocks on my door as I prepared myself for my sleep.

I answered the door without hesitation. That was the number one rule for us failures.

Mira, the only kind pregnant alchemist walking this large mansion, was standing at the door with a plate of food in her hands and the great big smile she always wore on her face. She always wore that smile when she saw me.

"Sydney, good morning. I brought you food."

"Good morning. Thanks, Mira, but I am not hungry this morning."

"You should be. All this work is killing you."

"It is going to be okay, Mira. Hopefully this last try will work. If not, then I will just leave as a failure."

"_They _won't let you leave until you have tried _every _method of conceiving. _They _will make you try the _traditional_ method of baby-making, even if you do not want to."

"I will not have sex with my sperm donor! I've only met him _once_! They can't force me to."

Mira glanced around the hallway and began to move, move inside my room. She set the food on a small dinner table inside my room before she took a seat on a rocking chair located at a corner of my room, the corner closest to my bed. I could bet a good fortune that rocking chair was placed inside for when I was pregnant and needed to rest my feet, or something similar to that. Joke was on them because their illusions didn't happen.

"Sydney, they won't let you leave until you get together with the man and try reproducing that way." Mira glanced at me, at her enlarged stomach, and back at me. "I had to do it. I mean, it's more, um, comfortable on your body. And natural. Aren't you a fan of natural? Anyway, this process leaves you with a good kind of sore, not the painful one, like the experiments do. . ."

I blushed a little bit. I didn't like talking about this stuff and I could imagine how embarrassed I would be actually doing. . .something like this.

"I'll be quiet. I know you're uncomfortable now, but you'll see once you have a kid growing in you. This stuff won't matter anymore." Mira smiled. "I'll be quiet now."

"Thanks."

"Eat. Please. For me? I need you to eat so I can stop worrying about you for a while."

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

"That does not ease any of my worry, girl."

To please her, I reached for the food and blindly dug in. I ate some. All of it, actually. Hopefully, it was something that did no damage to my stomach because I did not have a clue of what I had eaten when I was done with the food.

"Want some more food, Sydney?"

"No."

"At least you ate." Mira rubbed her stomach. "Sydney, we got cut off short last night—you never told me your love story."

"Not much love or romance in it, that is for sure."

"I still want to know."

"It was a chasing game at first. And when he had me, he told me he was still in love with the former girl in his love life. There was some kissing but that is it."

"You speak of him as if this happened twenty years ago and you want to forget about him forever."

"It was recent. And I am. . .forgetting about him."

"Do you still love him?" Mira asked as she looked at my face with her giant blue eyes. Her kid was going to be a cute one. It was a shame—as soon as the baby was born, none of us would be able to see the baby.

"He's out of my life," I answered.

"I guess that answers my question. But you know, it's always hardest to forget your first love. I still think about my John Doe—we won't say names—and I wonder if he still thinks about me. He left me and reconnected with me just a few days ago. It was, like, he hadn't left; my feelings were the same. And somehow, the first love makes it back to your life. Either as your enemy or as your friend. And sometimes, the first love is the enemy while they are a friend." Mira glanced outside, towards the greenery of the mansion. "Your someone is going to make it back into your life, Sydney. I know."

I yawned. Her wannabe truths were tiresome.

Mira stood. "I'll leave you now, Sydney. I know you need your hours of sleep."

When she was gone, I settled inside my bed, ready for my nap—I never had the chance to close my eyes and enjoy my slumber. There was another interruption.

I stood, already answering the door, cranky and tired. A delivery girl, a failure just like I was, stood at my door with a large arrangement of flowers in her hands. She handed me the arrangement and left me with a kind smile. . .and flowers in my hands. Curious, I placed the flowers on the table and reached for the letter on the cardette. I began to read as soon as I unfolded the letter.

_Sydney, it took me a while to find you. Hope the best is happening for you. If not, just know my life is even more miserable. We had something more and I ruined it with my bizarre fantasies, no__—__ridiculous fantasies. I ruined us and that makes me miserable. My feelings towards you have not changed. I want to see you again, Sydney. Can I see you again? But don__'__t waste too much on deciding because sometimes decisions decide on their own. _

_-A. Ivashkov_

My heart screamed yes!, my mind screamed no!

I didn't know what to choose.

But I didn't have to choose, because. . .Adrian Ivashkov was at my door, wearing a look so lost. . .that all the love I had for him came crashing back to me.

I ran to his arms, to his warm embrace.

**Aww. Cute. **

**Thanks for all the awesome reviews! **

**More romance in the next chapter, I promise! **

**I love you all. **

**Take much care!**

**And share the thoughts! **

**-Melissa **


	7. Chapter 7

**For those readers/reviewers that I can't reply to: Thank you so much! I hope you really like the story. I wish you guys would leave a small little comment to notify me that you exist and I can have a friendly chat with you, in the form of a review/PM/email. I WILL REPLY! I reply to all my comments, even if it says the worst thing imaginable! Anyway, thanks for reading and reviewing! **

**Hopefully this chapter made up for my absence. Damn school, always getting in my way of my writing time. Thanks for being patient with me, though! You guys are amazing. **

"Hey, there," Adrian said with that grin that made me want to melt. "You excited to see me?"

I moved backwards in my room, pulling him along with me. "Shut the door behind you," I told him.

"Would you like me to lock your door? Oh, Christ. That sounded like a rapist move."

"Adrian," I sighed. "You don't have to. The door locks by itself. That is the best luxury of this place."

I made a tiny detour inside my room and sat on the edge of the bed. He looked at me helplessly, with no emotions on his face, just looking, but everything he wanted to say, I assumed—I could see it in his eyes.

"This place seems like living in paradise."

"Things aren't always what they seem." I didn't want to sound so negative so I added, "Maybe. . .for other people besides myself. I. . .have to deal with the parts you don't typically see in paradise. You'll never see me in paradise. I am the person that keeps paradise clean and running smoothly during the night."

"You love this place, I can see."

"Correct. I love it here." Not even a person with a hearing disability would mistake the tone in my voice, the satirical tone and the sarcasm that twisted my facial features into a weird way.

Adrian came my way and sat down next to me. "Why don't you like it here? Don't they treat you well?"

"Slightly better than a slave is treated."

"Why?" Adrian was horrified.

". . .I have to work the night and keep the place running. Clean floors by hand, clean rooms, have them impeccable—clean the whole freaking place and have it impeccable, and if the cleaning is not as they want it, I have to do it until I have it right—"

"Sydney, why?"

"Because I am a failure! I can't. . .conceive. At least not with my donor." The tears spilled out. Christ, I was so helpless and ridiculous lately.

Adrian rubbed my back. "My. . .match ran away from me. She backed out at the last minute."

"God, this is overwhelming." I wiped the tears and laughed at what Adrian had said. "They tried several times and failed. The one performed recently—it failed as well. I always feel cramping when it fails; I cramped up all night."

"Hell."

"Mhm. Tell me about it."

There was silence.

"I wonder. . ."

"About. Adrian?"

"Why do they make you do stressing work if they want you to be successful?"

"When you're a failure, they don't expect success from you anymore. So, we give up."

"But if they want you to get pregnant and they inseminate you—why must they make you do stressful work?"

"I don't know. We have to take care of the pregnant alchemist as they live a stress-free live."

"I don't know why they don't let you do the same."

I lifted my shoulders and dropped them seconds later, not knowing what to answer.

Silence took over again. But not for long.

Adrian took hold of my hand.

"I still owe you a favor, remember?"

"A favor?"

"Let's stop the word games and get to the point."

"Okay. Talk."

"We can still practice procreating."

"Practice or give reproducing an attempt?"

"Whatever you want to refer it as. Just saying now, that whichever way you decide to go, the path will have the same outcome."

Adrian stared straight ahead as I looked at him. He stared away while I looked away.

For a long time.

Finally, a quick prayer to my almighty God, praying for him to forgive me for my future actions.

It was time to stop being bitter and actually make use of the life God gave me and use my life to love.

Screw all the prejudice I grew up with towards all the creatures of the night; _all _of them were people as well, just like I was human. We all made decisions and mistakes and we all had a life to live, even if we lived it so wrong. It was pathetic and ridiculous, all the views I grew up with, I could now see. At the end of the day, we call came from the same place and to the same place we were going, despite all discriminatory beliefs.

It only made me a pathetic and ridiculous person, believing such stuff.

And even if people thought this was a mistake it would be a good one. Besides, without mistakes how would we learn from these lessons of life?

I said, "Love me, there is no limit on how much you can love me. But just love me, Adrian."

There was a brief hesitation before Adrian was laying down on the bed, taking my hand as I stood over him with indecision, bringing me down right on top of him, instigating many emotions and feelings within as he kissed me. There was a desperation that had not ever been present before. There was, Adrian, the salvation I had been seeking of the past few months of hell; he was my heaven, I knew—I had known for a long time. There were nights I sought out for him—and now I had him and I was going to love him.

There was no more reluctance when I initiated this situation; all the uncertainty was long gone, as well as all the apprehensive feelings hosted inside, no weakness—perhaps there was a weakness, but it was a weakness—I wanted so much more than what I was receiving, getting from him.

I needed more of him.

And just like that, Adrian showed me one of the great beauties of life: love.

The moments after our sweet scene were amazing and memorable. Adrian kept hold of me and at times placed kisses all over my face, neck, chest, sometimes going lower than that. It felt like an overload of stress was off my shoulders, the stress that led to depression, the depression that killed my happiness as of late. I was in bliss, happiness surrounding me as Adrian hugged me to his chest. And I was tired, but peacefully. Unlike those other days where I felt like I _had _to sleep in order to be happy—I was actually tired now. And warm. I felt the warmth reflect off Adrian.

"I am so happy right now," I said into his chest.

"I thought you didn't believe in happiness."

"Because I didn't really know what it was."

"Until now?"

"Until now. . ."

"You look tired. Your eyes are closing."

"I was busy being a slave during the night."

"Those used to be normal hours for me. I've gotten used to human schedules."

"I am nocturnal now. And I should be sleeping. But _people _interrupted me."

"I am not tired. Still ready for another physical moment, if you know what I mean."

"I, however, am extremely tired. I am exhausted from being up all night and tired from a few minutes ago. And my feet are cold. I am even more tired when my feet are cold."

Adrian tucked one of my legs in between one of his. He laid his head on top of mine, while he tucked my head in between his neck and shoulders. "I am going to tell you something," he said.

"Tell me."

"Sydney, you're the only lover I enjoyed loving."

"That sure makes me feel confident here."

"Watch it with the sarcasm."

"I've bet you said that same line to all your lovers."

Adrian chuckled.

I closed my eyes and smiled.

"So, Sage, is this official now?"

"What is official?"

"You and I?"

"Slow down. I don't want you just to use me for sexual relationships. That's not me. I'm still with the prehistoric beliefs. We date and marry and stay together till the end of our times."

"The things you just mentioned, they don't rarely happen nowadays. Kind of sad, isn't it?"

"Really sad," I agreed, eyes closed and breath becoming deeper as the seconds ticked by.

Adrian put hand on my shoulder. "Don't fall asleep on me, Sydney. Wouldn't you like to talk about us?"

"We're us. . ." I couldn't make sense of what I was saying, so I imagined he couldn't either.

Adrian laughed. "Take a nap, I suppose. Leave me hanging. . ."

"I only sleep. . ."

Adrian chuckled once more and kissed my forehead. "Sleep."

"Okay, sir."

"Don't call me that. Makes me feel old."

"You might just be." I smiled.

"I am going to get you later, Sage," he muttered against the skin of my shoulder.

"Anything you say, sir." This time, I chuckled. "God, I am tired."

"And I am telling you to sleep."

"I will."

I was three-quarters asleep when Adrian disturbed me once more; I was half asleep now.

"Sydney—we won't be like other couples. If you agree to date me, I'll be here for a while. For a very long while."

I struggled to do so, but I looked at Adrian in his eyes.

"So will I."

Adrian grabbed my hand and tangled it with his own. "I love you, Sydney."

I looked at him again. He didn't say anything; we didn't have to. Adrian could see the feelings in my eyes.

**Well, that's the first step in the Sy/Ad relationship. It's not the way to go but sometimes life is surprising. **

**Thanks for all the amazing reviews! I love you guys! **

**Share the thoughts once more! **

**-Melissa **

**P.S.: Who has read the Dark Swan series by Richelle Mead? If you have, I want to talk to you! Please. **


	8. Chapter 8

**This update took longer than usual. The day that I was going to write this chapter, I started reading this book that had been sitting, unread, on my Kindle home screen. Finally, I found the guts to read Strom Born, by Richelle Mead. It was an awesome series and I loved it because it mixed the supernatural with the unnatural reality, if that is understandable. I won't bore you further with my rants, but I have to thank you for reviewing and mostly for reading!**

**Enjoy this chapter!**

**I don't own. Richelle Mead gets paid to write these books. I just like borrowing her characters and making my "it would be cool if. . ."**

**Nine weeks later**

"Happy Birthday!" I exclaimed as I pushed open Mira's door, balancing a small, round cake on one hand, while the other struggled with a gift I had spent quite some time wrapping. I considered singing the birthday song but I was not gifted with such amazing vocals. Mira stood up, shocked and excited, from where she had been sitting on the edge of her bed, flipping through her correspondence; she threw the mail on her bed and covered her face, or well her eyes, with one hand as she looked down briefly, an attempt to obscure the emotions on her face.

"Sydney—God, I am crying."

I made sure the door was closed behind me before I entered her room completely. I placed the small cake on the coffee table near her door, taking myself her way, wanting to cry myself. I wrapped an arm around her fragile shoulders and pulled her into me, she that was practically my sister. I felt betrayed by my own family for doing this to me, I hadn't spoken to anyone of them since the argument between my father and I; Mira was my only family now. The best I could wish my family now—I wished my mother the best and that the money I brought in would bring them nothing but good fortunes.

"Oh, stop. You're going to bring out all the waterworks of my eyes. You know I have been feeling somewhat emotional lately." To add to my embarrassment, tears slithered out of my eyes. I embraced Mira completely, resting my head on her shoulder. Even though she was a few months younger than I was, I looked up to her; I loved her. "We shouldn't cry," I said after a few seconds of hugging. "It's your birthday," I offered lamely.

"These hormones are sickening." Mira wiped at her tears. "And that cake looks awfully appetizing."

I dared a glance over at the cake; it _did _look quite appetizing.

Mira followed my gaze, curiosity and suspicious _and _a knowing look on her face. A smile adorned her face. "Take a piece."

"Don't mind if I do." I stood up and grabbed the plate, grabbing the two forks I had brought with me. I took the cake back to Mira, handing a fork to her.

"Plates?"

"Screw that," I said, taking a good forkful of cake and shoving it inside my mouth.

Mira chuckled, following my example.

I took another forkful. _Mmm, the cake was delicious, chocolaty and. . .chocolaty. It was heaven in my mouth. . ._

"Mmm," I moaned.

"You're way of character, Sydney," Mira observed with those watchful eyes of hers. "I swear, a few months ago—you _never _would have done that."

"To each his own," I quoted. "Besides, Adrian has taught me a few things of life."

"What is that?"

"Don't take it too seriously. There isn't enough time to live before the hands of death are dragging us away."

"You're happy," she noted.

"In a way, I am happy," I replied. "I contradict you, somewhat—I am actually enjoying life. And it brought me joy of this life I am living."

"And I am sure Adrian brings you a lot of joy," Mira inputted.

"Yes, he does."

"I am glad for you. I can't have that luxury now, especially since the time to give up my baby is coming soon."

"You don't want to give up your baby?" I ate another piece of cake, almost crying for her, for the obvious pain she was experiencing.

"Never. When I agreed to this, I never imagined I would have such a—_bond_—with a creature I have never met but living inside me." Mira slumped back a little, seeming defeated. "You may think they're done with you, but they're not. They want that baby and you're going to have to give to them. You're break is almost over." The "break" Mira referred to was a big request she had asked for—saying I needed not to be so stressed, to free me of my duties, well she tried that, but I was put to work on less stressing work, work that had me with Mira all throughout the day.

"I can't imagine how horrible it must be."

"You can't. But I guess I'll survive." Mira tried to smile for my sake. Shouldn't I be comforting her? The tears that rolled off my eyes were proof that I could not comfort anyone. Quite embarrassing. "Sydney?" Mira asked, wearing that same curiosity on her face of before. "Are you—okay? You've been crying awfully. A lot of crying."

I dabbed at my tears with a tissue. "I don't know what is wrong with me. Ever since I have been with Adrian, I kind of. . .gained my sentiments back."

"You sentimental? That is almost unbelievable."

"Hey, I have my all-the-time moments of kindness. And my rare acts of rage. Actually, all kinds of emotions I host within me."

"Tell me about it. Just the other day you snapped at me for touching your green beans with cheese, remember? I mean, you did share but I could tell it wasn't because you wanted to do so."

"I was hungry," I said sheepishly.

"I noticed," Mira said, with a small smile. "The act had Adrian laughing his pretty _ass. . ._ets off. Until that mildly strong hand of yours reached out and smacked those pretty shoulders. Of course, knowing the man and his charming ways—he kept on laughing."

"And I am still very annoyed at him for laughing at me. He shouldn't be laughing at me if he claims he wants to date me."

"Aren't you already dating?" She teased. "Those conjugal visits haven't meant anything to you?"

"Conjugal? It makes me feel like I am in prison." I shivered. It felt like I was imprisoned, save for these last few weeks watching over _Mira _and not the whole institution.

"As a matter of speaking, you _are _in a prison as you do not have the right to 'leave the premises', while other alchemist females are allowed to leave and enter as they please."

When I realized Mira and I weren't eating the cake anymore, I placed it back on her dresser, joining her to lay back against the bed. I watched with slight humor as she grabbed the many pillows and tucked them _everywhere _to be comfortable. Finally, she rested against the headboard, placing her feet and legs on a pillow. She had been so discontent before and her happy sighs of late made me feel better about being stuck inside this hellish place.

"My feet are swelling," Mira complained. "I knew I shouldn't have been walking so much today."

"One of the many drawbacks of pregnancy, I assume."

"No! I disagree. The worst one is feeling like you're going to pee yourself every second. You can't imagine how horrible it feels. It's not fun having a baby using your bladder is a trampoline," Mira said, rubbing her stomach with a small, sad smile. It was seconds before Mira's delicate laugh filled the room. "The world is really screwed up. Last year, you and I were both swearing we wanted nothing to do with the tinted except banish them from this earth. Now, I can speak for both of us when I say we have fallen in love with those involved with 'darkness'."

"The world is screwed up and what can we do about it?"

"Hopefully we don't pee all over ourselves. Christ, my bladders full again." I helped a struggling Mira stand up and make her way to the restroom inside her room. When she came back, she had a look of curiosity on her face. Honestly, she was always very curious. "I am wondering about your life, Sydney. Are you still playing their game?"

"I kind of have to," I said, shrugging. "You know Andrea won't leave me alone until I am pregnant."

"So, you're going to go to the ultrasound today?" I nodded. "They aren't going to check if you're pregnant, are they?"

"Nope. I know I am not pregnant. They are checking if my reproductive system is working as it should so I can get matched with a different donor."

"Blah, that makes me want to puke."

"For once, I share the same feeling." I glanced over at the digital clock she had on her nightstand. Noticing the time, I stood up from her bed, trying to fix my hair I had straightened earlier. "I hate to do this, but I must leave to go banter with those I love and be involved in their paternity fiasco, especially _her _paternity fiasco."

"Too much sarcasm for you, Sydney."

"I realize that. Hopefully Andrea doesn't catch up to my fakeness; I can't stand her any more than I stand the thought of forgetting to do my class assignments."

"Have fun!" Mira called out when I walked out her door. I walked by several other pregnant alchemist, ignoring the haughty looks my way. I knew the alchemist girls disliked me because I was friendly with Mira _and _because I had a Moroi, a very gorgeous Moroi, visiting me frequently. I passed them with a smile, a smile I knew would make their blood boil and dislike me further, at least until I was out of their sight. It took me a few minutes to make it downstairs, out a door, and to the medical service center.

I glued a I-hate-you-but-I- want-to-be -nice-to-you smile on my face for Andrea that sat in the lobby of the medical clinic. A nurse had spotted me entering and she saved me by ushering me inside where I would meet the doctor, instead of leaving me outside with the horrible Andrea and the forced, but friendly, conversation she would dump upon me. I was accustomed to Andrea's scrutinizing nature, so I really had no more qualms of undressing in front of her and slipping into those annoying hospital robes. If anything, _she _should be embarrassed by staring at me.

As I waited for the medical unit, which consisted of the Obstetrician/Gynecologist and the nurse practitioner assigned for _me_, _only me_—I drowned myself in my own thoughts and completely dismissed all the world and the interacting people surrounding me. My thoughts were mostly composed of Adrian and his distracting charms. Every week, hell—_every day_—he visited me, spoiled me with his romantic delights, and most of the times he visited, we fell into bed together to enjoy each other—

"Sydney?"

_Damn doctor. _

"Yes?" Again, I found myself fake smiling. One of these days, I wouldn't bother smiling at these god-forsaken people.

"You haven't answered any of my six questions."

"Too much on my mind."

"I'll have my nurse practitioner rephrase them while I am doing the ultrasound, is that okay with you?" I glanced over at the ob/gy 's nurse; she seemed harmless.

"I don't mind."

I felt a mildly uncomfortable unease on my body as the doctor performed her tests.

"Ms, Sage, have you been—"

"What is this?—wait, let me move the Doppler over here. . ."

There was a strange noise filling up the room and I hadn't a clue as to why but it was sure a strange noise. Kind of sounded like. . .I couldn't remember what.

"What is that?" I asked, horrified. I had never before paid attention to the monitor when the doctor was performing the sonogram on me earlier times. Bizarre images filled the screen and peculiar noises filled around the room, reaching my ears; the noises satisfied my ears and the images warmed my heart. I was not horrified anymore; I was inexplicably amazed; the past few dizzying weeks now made sense. _Finally, _I thought.

Andrea's scream erupted around me, confirming what I already knew. At least we shared the same feelings now; we were both extremely happy.

When nobody said anything, I was confused and apprehensive and fearful.

"There seems to be a problem."

"Oh. . .I am sorry?"

"Nothing grave, I assure you."

"Just tell her already," the nurse practitioner said with a hint of desperation. "You're stressing her out."

"You're having a baby," my doctor told me.

"I am pregnant," I repeated, suddenly not feeling like a failure anymore.

**Finally! How do you think baby daddy is going to react? **

**Thanks so much for reading! **

**Share the thoughts, you know I love hearing them. **

**Take care**

**-Melissa **


	9. Chapter 9

**A fast update this was, in my opinion. I won't bore with my banter today. Excuse my mistakes, I will try and fix them later. **

**Enjoy this chapter!**

After my staff handed me all sorts of prenatal pills and giving me endless informational packets and pamphlets, my doctor, my nurse, and my "agent", Andrea, sent me on my way, hands full and mind almost bursting with valuable information. This time, when I walked through the hallways that led to my room—sneers turned into smiles; mostly every pregnant alchemist I passed gave me huge smiles as they noticed the materials in my hands. One pregnant alchemist even asked me if I wanted to join her for dinner today. Kudos to me, I supposed—it made me feel proud of myself.

I pushed the door of my room open as quickly as I could. The stares, the easy smiles, the passable attitudes, toward me had made me uneasy as I was not used to such comfort amongst these girls. In my room, I sensed I was not alone, knowing I was not alone when I saw a hand, connected to a body of course, lighting a candle on my miniature dinner table. A wannabe romantic date, I would assume—only done because I still wasn't permitted to leave the institution, unless one of _them_ were trailing my footsteps.

"Good evening, my sweet. Care to join me for dinner, my fair maiden?"

"You would be fit to be a king," I said, giggling, imaging the scene in my head. When I was with Adrian, all the emotions I barricaded from the world, those walls came down as soon as I saw his gorgeous face and his eyes that were equally as gorgeous.

"And you would be fit to be my maiden queen-to-be. Except you're not a maiden."

I blushed for a second at Adrian's words and as Adrian took in my appearance from face to feet. Trying to regain my good nature back, I put my back to him, dropping the items I had in my hands on the dresser near my bed. I turned back to Adrian and I knew I was not efficient in removing the smile and flush off my face.

"You really dressed up for me?" Adrian asked, approval on his face.

I shrugged, delicately offering a sweet smile.

"Oh, you're too cute. Actually, you're beautiful."

I dropped my smile. "Why do you—how could you think of me as 'beautiful'?" There it was again—my indecision and hesitation about myself; it was ever-present in our relationship, or friendship?—whatever we had going on. But it was something he paid no more attention to than a person would pay attention to a crawling bug. He waved off my uncertainty by spilling about a million heartfelt comments directed to me, saying how much I meant to him.

"Why shouldn't I say that?" Adrian frowned. "I say what I think and know and I think and know you are beautiful, even if you don't see yourself as such with your eyes, I certainly believe you are a beautiful girl."

And again I was swept away when he smiled at me and gazed at me with his gorgeous green eyes.

He knew he had me.

"Now moving away from your disagreements, which are foolish and quite pointless because you will never understand how beautiful you are to me."

"Adrian," I started but he cut me off.

"I have something for you."

"Okay?"

"But before," Adrian began, pulling out a chair for me, motioning down for me sit, "you have to sit down and enjoy dinner with me."

"There better be—"

"Green beans with cheese, yes there is. It was a special request."

"And with M—"

"And with Monterrey Jack melted on top."

"And the—"

"And the seasoning with the bird logo flavored on top of the cheese, yes. And it was absolutely creepy buying the seasoning; it made me feel like somebody was going to cast down a spell on me, I don't know, but it was a eerie feeling."

I laughed. This was exactly what I had to deal with every day and I loved that, every little detail of Adrian's, no matter how irritating.

"Good." I smiled. "Now, what is for dinner?"

"The slogan would say 'beef is what's for dinner' but since you're literally asking. . .we're eating healthy. Er, somewhat."

I glanced over at the food, not really seeing anything until Adrian pushed a plate toward me, filled with green beans with cheese, topped with my most favorite cheese of late, a chicken breast filet, and a small serving of mashed potatoes. Not exactly what a nutritionist would consider healthy, but still the food looked delicious. And the smell—it was heavenly, good enough that it sent my stomach into a grumbling frenzy. And my mouth, my mouth was starting to water, craving all the deliciousness on the plate. Christ, pregnancy made us women crazy.

"Interesting," I said when Adrian did nothing but stare at me staring at the food. "Did you cook all of this?"

"Yes, of course. These hands do severe manual labor. If you don't remember, let me help you by reminding you that these hands cleaned this very room you were once too unenergetic to clean yourself."

Adrian _had _cleaned my room; it was the most shocking day of my life.

It was pretty cute, actually, watching him clean my room while I felt this sudden urge to _not _do anything but lounge around, or lay laxly on my bed. To come to think of it, it was around the time when I had first conceived. Based on my staff's information, I came up with the conclusion that the first few weeks of pregnancy were the most horrifying—although endearing because there was a baby growing inside you—because I wanted to do nothing but sleep. _All day. _

"I can't complain about your hands. Sometimes they help me get off," I admitted, sheepishly.

Adrian laughed. "Sydney, that is the naughtiest thing I have ever heard come out of your mouth!"

"You've corrupted me, recklessly so."

"Oh, yeah? Are you naughty enough to finally agree to a sexual encounter—"

"How about we eat? It's not in my character to discuss about your imaginary sexual encounters between us, especially when this holy food is in front of us."

"You are not willing to discuss about our sexuality, but you are more than willing to participate in our sexual life."

"One day, I am going to take you to church, splash holy water on you, and watch you burn at the altar."

Adrian stayed quiet as I took in a forkful of food, carefully analyzing how I ate.

"Can you not look at me while I eat?"

"I can't, and don't, want to take my eyes off you."

"There isn't much interesting to stare at."

"I am in denial once again. Don't fight a war you know you won't win. I don't want any more disagreements between us right now."

"Well, then we must eat in silence. You know we're always arguing."

"All happy couples argue in order to be happy. If you must know, my parents argued nonstop. . .and they were unhappy. But that is beside the point."

His words brought the word 'baby' to my head and seconds later I was fighting off a huge smile.

Adrian caught on, noticing my expression. "Do you have something to tell me, my sweet?"

I stayed quiet, silently trying to finish my food.

"Sydney?"

"We agreed we wouldn't talk through the rest of our dinner."

"Sydney."

"My lips are sealed."

Adrian seemed ready to go crazy, I could tell, and that drove me crazy as well, thinking of what would happen if I pushed him against my bed and began undressing him to allow _him _to drive me into full-blown madness—_oh, God!. . .where did that come from? _

"Sydney."

After all the time I had known Adrian, I picked up on one of his weird, private habits, and that was what I was doing in that second. "I had been craving you, little green critters," I said, leading a green bean inside my mouth, chewing slowly, savoring each bite.

"Sydney, tell me!" He sounded frustrated now. Good. I couldn't always be the patient one.

I popped another green bean in my mouth, chewing and staring at him.

"What do you want to know?" I knew my silence was killing him.

"Tell me."

"Seeing as you don't specify what you want to know, I am going tell you—I ate a chocolate bar the other day."

"Sydney!" I could have thought of many times he had screamed my name. "Fine, Sage. Play your game. Just know that I might be playing this game when you're begging for my mercy—I know you aren't exactly thrilled when I don't give you what I want."

I winked at him. "I'll take my chances. And your screaming at me isn't helping your chances at—how do teens phrase it nowadays?—getting laid."

Adrian turned his slightly frustrated face to mischief. "_You_ are the screamer."

"I don't scream," I scoffed.

"Well, you aren't exactly quiet when you're begging for me. . .to do _you_—all your requests."

I ignored him. Normally, a comment as such would have me hellishly blushing, but no. . .tonight was a night where I dropped all my 'innocent Sydney act' of many years.

Adrian leaned back in his chair, sipping on his wine. His food was untouched and when he noticed mine was gone, he pushed his plate toward me. My manners must have escaped my mind in that instant, because I began to devour the food he had not enjoyed. After I was done chewing and swallowing my third bite, I looked up to him, suddenly embarrassed.

"Thanks for the food. But aren't you hungry?"

"No. Plus, _you _need to eat. I don't want your bony figure to get any more fragile than it already is."

"I am not fragile."

"Again, you don't see yourself with the eyes that I look at you with." Adrian smiled at my worried expression. "Don't worry. I am not hungry," he reaffirmed, taking a drink of his wine.

Adrian swirled his wine around in the wine glass, taking another drink. I observed the wine and it took me a second to realize his wine was mixed with blood. The imaginary smell to my nose and the imagine taste to my tongue had me covering my mouth, shooting out of my chair, and running to the bathroom. I had time to shut the door, thankfully, before my stomach went wild, figuratively speaking. I felt disgusted with myself and I figured a shower would make me feel better. Twenty minutes after my stomach tantrum, I emerged from the restroom in nothing but a towel.

Adrian rested against my bed, propped up against the headboard with the many pillows I kept on my bed. The room had been cleared and I had no doubt it was his doing.

"Well?. . .sorry?"

Adrian repositioned himself, inviting me to join him. "Come here."

"I only have a towel on."

"_Come here_." He grinned, a second later. "Don't be shy."

I moved toward him, removing my blonde hair out of the bun I had put it in. I grabbed a small, decorative bed cushion and tossed it at him.

"Oh, feisty!"

I moved closer to him. He pressed up against my back, removing the towel, sliding his hands over my back, my arms, everywhere, moving his hands to rest on my abdomen, massaging the area gently.

"Well."

"Hmm?"

"Well, when is our munchkin due?"

"It's not a munchkin!" was all I had to say to his words. _Thanks, pregnancy hormones, for making me all feisty._

"It was an endearing nickname, my dear. Would you rather I call the baby 'it' and make it sound like I don't want the baby? 'It' sounds so negative and I would rather not use such terminology."

"You want the baby?" I asked, near tears.

"I know I love you, everything about you, and the baby grows inside you—I love my munchkin."

I was awed. "How did you find out?"

"I did a little investigating."

I remembered the package my staff had given me; I had left in plain sight. "You mean you let your gossiping side win you over and take its advice by rummaging through my stuff while I was in the shower."

"If you want to phrase it like that—I prefer to call it 'investigating'. It sounds a lot cooler."

"Only you," I muttered.

"Only me. You can't complain about me. I helped make the baby that saved your life. Wait a second, is the baby mine? You know how they did those experiments on you, so unnaturally."

"Last insemination failed."

"Great, I am excited to be a father. And so will my mother."

"Your mom? Why?"

"Yeah. . .she has been itching for a grandchild. Also, she has been wanting to meet you."

"Why?"

"She put everything aside, basically sent all the Moroi madness to hell; she left the court and has been living with me. She told me she was done rotting alongside my father. She will love this blessing of a grandchild."

"She won't care—"

"I told you, she sent everything to hell and now has an open mind for anything that will make it into her life. She loves you 'cause you're so brave."

I was shocked again. "How am I brave?"

"You're here," he said, as if it would explain everything. "She said she would never want to be here, especially if it meant giving up her child," he said, wistfully. "Sydney, I am going to be honest—I don't want to give up the baby."

"Neither do I," I declared, tears escalating from my eyes.

Adrian turned me to him and hugged me fiercely. "I don't want to give the baby up. I love our. . .little munchkin."

"I have to do something to stop this."

"There isn't much we can do."

"We'll try, will you help me, Adrian? I am sure we can find a way."

"Sydney" was all Adrian managed to say; he didn't believe there was way out of this.

**Aww. Poor Sydney. **

**Thanks so much for reviewing and reading! **

**Share the thoughts, you know I love hearing them. **

**Take care**

**-Melissa **


	10. Chapter 10

**Ah. Feels good to be updating again. I missed writing this story. I feel a sickness coming, so review to make me feel better. Thanks for being so patient with me. And here is to you, my loyal readers and reviewers. You know I love you! **

**And to my accomplice, you know who you are;) **

****I don't own. Richelle Mead gets paid to write these books. I just like borrowing her characters and making my "it would be cool if. . .****

"Why do you think you deserve this?"

A week of nonsense found its way to the past, and today I was sitting before my team, awaiting a major decision or an approval of my request—a request for freedom. Had I earned it or not? To the corner of my room, the couple sitting properly in their chairs caused suspicion to arise within me. Not of the way they were sitting but because of their physical features. He greatly resembled, looked almost exactly like the guy that had been chosen as my donor originally.

And the female—it was frightening how much alike we were. It was as if we were twins, only she was the older one.

The sight of the couple had my stomach churning with an apprehensive feeling, a great doubt.

_Who are these people? _

Seeing the couple—it was definitely strange.

Anyway.

Andrea called for my attention again and setting her unsettling eyes on me. Shoot. The couple had distracted me from giving my grand argument.

"You want to be free because?. . ."

"Because I need to see the world" was my response and I knew it was not a great argument.

"Convince me," Andrea said once more, leaning back in her chair.

"I want to see my parents," I blurted out. "Before coming here, I had an argument with my father and I want to know if he is well."

"Haven't you called him?"

"No. My mother, she is sick and I haven't seen or spoken to her since I was sent to Palm Springs. And my sisters. . .I didn't realize how much I loved and needed them until I was brought here."

Andrea looked at me, while my twin stared with sympathy at me.

"I am sure a phone call would fix that. . ."

"Yeah, but it does not compare to _seeing _them in person."

"Andrea," my twin muttered. _Okay_, she really needed a name.

"Denise"—yes, finally I learned her name!—"she needs to tell me why she deserves to be free. I can't just let her go."

"You can let her go. We are the ones sponsoring her, anyway."

Sponsoring me?

"Sponsoring me?" my voice echoed my thoughts. "Would you be kind enough to explain what is really happening here?"

Andrea had a small stare showdown with Denise. After a few seconds, Denise looked at me and smiled tenderly.

"Sydney, you are free to go anywhere in this world, with the promise of taking care of yourself as the baby grows inside you and coming back here before the baby is born."

Andrea kept quiet, staring at Denise with anger every so often.

What was going on here?

"No questions, Sydney," Andrea commanded when she saw me open my mouth for an interrogation. "Now, if you please would be on your way; I would like to have a private discussion with Denise and Richard."

When I closed the door behind myself, after Denise slipping a paper in my hand, I came up with the conclusion that Andrea was a bitch, or someone I would really could care less if she told me she was dying of a terminal disease. I made sure the door of the room I had just exited was fifteen feet away, actually I was a few feet away from my room, before I glanced down at the paper Denise had handed me. I probably experienced the same shock as Adrian did when he realized there had been a nasty spider under his pillow for a whole night. In case there was wondering—he had been really shocked.

Traumatized, actually.

The paper in my hands. . .it was a check. The amount on the check could possibly keep a small town running for three months, if my quick and mental calculations were accurately correct.

But why had Denise given this to me?

I decided not to question anything else except about where I was going to go now that I was free.

"Sydney. . ."

I glanced behind me, glancing at a girl who hated me ever since I had found myself in this institution.

"Yeah?"

"You look good pregnant."

"Oh? I am not even showing."

"Yes, you are."

_That freaking liar, Adrian told me he believed I would need to be six months for me to barely start showing. _

"Argh—I am going to slap Adrian."

"Is he your boyfriend?"

"Something like that." I still couldn't believe the tarantula hadn't gathered the nerve to officially ask me to be his girlfriend. _Don't always rely on males, _my mind told. _Take control. Ask him. _

"He is really cute."

"If you say so," I muttered casually, eyeing the pregnant alchemist with displease. Of course I knew how cute he was!—I was shocked at the anger bubbling inside me, the sudden desire to wrap my hand around the alchemist's arm until it broke. _Oh no_. . .a bad mood swing was coming on, I realized. I could tell this pregnancy was going to drag me across a field of spur-of-the-moment emotions, really bad emotions and feelings. I was barely in the beginnings of my gestation and already I had experienced not so great feelings. If anybody was curious—_ask Adrian about all last week. _

I had been acting much like an exploding bomb would—violently and exploded over anything, going crocodile on anybody who bothered me.

At least I wasn't bursting into tears, indiscriminately, much like Mira; she cried over anything.

I couldn't even recognize myself any more.

And the sweet Sydney of before had been tossed into the garbage, long and forgotten.

Or possibly drowned inside a bathtub.

"You really like him."

"Yes, I do." _I, however, don't like _you _very much. _

"Do you think he really likes you?"

"I don't like you," I admitted, annoyed. "Would you be kind enough to get out of my face before I toss you out the window?"

The alchemist girl's eyes widened but she scuttled off, rushing to get inside her bedroom. I glorified myself—I had finally managed to scare somebody off, using my own voice. Since I was a blonde, a sometimes clueless blonde with the voice of a delicate angel, people found the urge to be _around _me not _away _from me. I constantly had to use harsher tactics to send people away, unlike some people that just had to speak and people around would have to scuttle away—

_Stop talking! _

Putting aside my new, pregnancy mental instability, I pushed open the door of my bedroom.

Inside my bedroom, I grabbed a pile of my clothes and tossed them on the bed.

I was going to visit my parents, now that I was given my freedom.

"What do you mean I am not going?" I asked speaking through teeth tightly clamped together. The voice coming out of my mouth wasn't really pretty, sounding more like a beast, rather than the angelic voice people were accustomed to hear coming out of my mouth. I was sure my wild hair and pissed off face was not helping my saintly image either. I pulled on my hair again, ready to explode on Adrian. Or as I liked to say, go crocodile on him. Next time I exploded, I would probably, _actually _magically turn into a crocodile.

"I think it is too dangerous for you to go, especially in your condition."

"My condition?" I repeated.

"Yes," Adrian replied, standing up from his chair, obviously just as annoyed as I was feeling.

"My condition? I am _pregnant_, not missing an arm and leg. And even if I was missing some limbs, I am pretty sure I can do stuff by myself. That is what is so wonderful about humans with amputations—they get on with their life and strive to be _someone_. _You _make it sound like I can't do anything!" I began to pack my clothes once more. I was going.

Adrian sighed, walking to me, wrapping both his arms around me, pressing my back against his chest.

"I hate arguing with you," he whispered inside my right ear, placing tender kisses on the back of my neck.

"Well, don't talk to me," I rudely replied.

Adrian gave out a frustrated breath. "Well, if you're not staying. . ."

"I am _not _staying here another day, holed up and depressed."

"I will go with you, then."

My snappy, pregnant attitude faltered; I was not sure how to respond to him. I couldn't exactly say _"You can't go with me because I don't think my parents would be very welcoming with you and I am pretty sure they would hate you"_ could I? But—if my father had sent me here, and had been reveling because of the money I had sent him—then why shouldn't he accept the man that had helped me receive this huge money bonus I would soon deliver to him?

And really, everyone had a right to love whoever they wanted to love.

"To each his own," I whispered, more to myself than anyone else. I stopped packing my bags, sitting down on the bed, grinning up at Adrian. "If you want to go with me, you have to pack my clothes."

"Christ, why did you have pair me with this lady?" Adrian muttered satirically, with a small smile. "Okay, Sage. I will pack your clothes. But after. . .you're going to have to give me a foot massage."

"What? No. You're feet are disgusting!"

"I am not going to agree with you. You seem to find everything disgusting now that you are pregnant," Adrian argued, still wearing that smile.

"Oh. You're going to judge me too?" I questioned, my mood returning to the feisty one. "I have people all over the world—mostly Mira—judging me because I am out of character. Try being pregnant—I am sure you won't ever be the same person, even after the baby is out of your stomach."

"I am not judging you."

"Well, you should know that I don't really care what anyone has to say about me, at this moment. I am still _me_, just with pregnancy mood swings and attitude."

Adrian waved my foolish nonsense away, resuming the packing I had paused. Watching him place my clothing inside my suitcase had me relaxed. Extremely relaxed. So relaxed. . .I fell asleep, much to his disappoint. I was sure he had been expecting "something extra" tonight. Oh, but the boy loved me and was smart enough to know not to complain.

**This was cute to write. This was just a filler, as you know. Hopefully you enjoyed!**

**Tell me your thoughts, you know I love hearing them!:) **

**Take care**

**-Mel**


	11. Chapter 11

**Demi thank you so much! You are wonderful! **

**Phew. I am sorry it took so long for me to update, but school always gets in the way of my writing schedule. I planned to be a more academic student this year and it is happening, but not without sacrifices. I have given up too much of my writing time:( In another words, I have to thank you all for your wonderful comments; each time I see a new review, I **_**quietly **_**yell in happiness and feel inspired to write more. Thanks so much. I love each and every one of my readers. You're awesome! I will try and update much faster. **

**Anyway, enjoy! **

****I don't own. Richelle Mead gets paid to write these books. I just like borrowing her characters and making my "it would be cool if. . .****

"Just warning you now, my family might not like you," I whispered over at Adrian, knocking on the door.

"Sydney, you're telling me now, now that we are seconds away from me meeting your family?" Adrian asked, his tone questioning if I was _okay _in the mind.

"Well. . .you're the one that wanted to come along. And it should be obvious as you know the races we belong to aren't exactly friendly towards each other." I glanced back at the door. "What—Zoe!"

Zoe, in her ponytail braids, opened the door for us, reminding me of when I had been woken, scared to death, only to find out I had been assigned as a _caregiver_ in Palm Springs. And right when I saw her eyes on me—the feeling inside was equal to what anyone would feel if a bucket of freezing water and ice was thrown at his face. I assumed our time apart had fixed things up, but I now knew where assuming had taken me. What I was feeling reminded me of the exact same feeling I experienced when my instructor had gone from showing me the Pythagorean Theorem to logarithms.

Frustrated. And upset.

But as I had showed before—I was quick to adapt, without putting up much fight..

If _I _was not welcomed here, I didn't have to imagine how Adrian was going to be treated.

"What are you doing here?"

"Zoe—"

"I heard re-education centers _reeducate _about the good ways of alchemist and the immoral ways of vampires. You are a vampire lover. You don't belong here any longer, Sydney."

"Zoe, not all of them are bad."

Like a bratty teenager, she said, "What? Did _they _brainwash you to believe that vampires are amazing and alchemists are _nothing _but a waste of time? You're an alchemist, Sydney. Did you forget that?"

Zoe dropped the bitter façade when she realized I wasn't saying anything back.

"Leave," she whispered.

"Zoe, not all of them are bed," I whispered, the only words my lips could manage to speak, realizing the words were the wrong to say.

"Leave," she repeated, desperation crossing her features. "No, hold up a minute. I need to give you—" Zoe stopped and turned to hurry inside. She took only a minute to come back, shoving a black leather bag in my hands. "Run. They're after you. Be careful. But run."

I stayed in place.

Zoe pushed me, delicately, out of the doorway. "Run. Nobody can see you, not Mom, and especially not Dad."

"Why?" I was ready to run, but I needed to know the truth.

"Everything you need to know is inside the bag I handed you. Leave. Hurry. _Before _Mom and Dad return. They cannot see you or else—Sydney, please. Leave. Now. You have to run."

I heard the urgency in her voice, wanting to run, but also craving the truth.

"Sydney! Please. This is no good time to be stubborn, you need to leave. You are in great peril if you stay here any longer," Zoe screamed, tears taking her face. "Leave before they catch you."

"Alright," I told her, overwhelmed. "But how is Mom doing? I came here for her, to see if she is well. Dad told me she was sick—"

"Dad, Mom—everyone in this family is fine. My father lied to you so you'd willingly go to the institution and keep away from here."

To go to those extremes—_God, my family most likely did not want me here any longer. _

"You have to go; my father is doing this for you"—Zoe's face was pained—"so you could be with the unholy kind, your vampires."

Again, I heard the scorn and loathe towards the "unholy kind", the vampires.

There was no doubt now, I was certain. . .my family did not want me to be a part of their family anymore, because of who I had chosen to love. To them, there was no in between; there was this side, and there was that side. Holy or unholy. And in their minds, I had chosen the unholy side, the bad side, the tainted side; I was no longer welcomed among my own people, _people _I had once been part of.

"Leave. Sydney. Please. Before worse comes to worst."

My surroundings finally made it to my eyes—I noticed the golden tattoo on her face, the same one I had tattooed, the tattoo that symbolized light was inside me, with no chances of dark ever coming in, the tattoo that classified me as an alchemist.

I had been replaced.

It was not the best feeling to realize my own family had figuratively slapped me in the face.

I left my parents' home, a home that had once been mine, and I pushed everything I had wanted to say in the back of my mind.

I had to run now.

Running from something unknown—the feeling was almost indescribable, though it was extremely terrifying, especially now that I knew my own family was doing the chasing. A truth was painful, but I knew my father had his share of doing in this _chasing_. I was thankful Adrian followed me, claiming he would do anything in his power to keep me safe, although I knew his confusion rivaled my own.

I did not mention to him—I would send him away, well. . .because I loved him vastly so, and having him around, I knew would only put him in danger. Besides, he had grown up all his life with people taking care of him, not the other way around. Being with me, he would have a lot of growing up to do, and no, Adrian was a boy that settled down—not a boy that someone settled down.

_I can't do this to him; I can't rob his life from him. _

I did not know where to run, exactly. Where would I go in this world where I could not be found? In this world, there were almost endless places where I could hide, but it wouldn't be long before I would be caught. _Where can I go from here? _Unfortunately, I had no answers and I could only think of going back to the institution center.

And to add to the drama that was currently resting on my shoulders, I was being punished.

"Sydney Sage!" Andrea yelled, scurrying behind me as I made my way to my bedroom, with Adrian in tow. Before I had time to hide inside my bedroom, Andrea reached out for my hand and turned me to face her. "You are under probation for leaving the premises without _my _consent. From now on, you stay here, no leaving until your easy task is done here."

_Easy task—the day I had to give up the baby. How in the world does she find that easy? _

"No leaving until we have OUR BABY!" Andrea screamed at me, adding emphasis on the last two words of her speech. "Walk away from here, it was your mistake, the worst you could have ever done—"

"I know," I told her, stopping her rambles.

Andrea stared at me.

"Yes, I know," I added for her face of disbelief.

Adrian heard the defeat in my voice, for his artist hand reached for mine, hiding my hand in his own. I was glad Adrian had not failed me just yet.

But I hated myself. . .because I was going to fail him pretty soon.

"You are in trouble," Andrea informed me, walking to me, pointing a finger at me, much like a scolding paternal figure would do to their son-figure.

"I know."

"Sydney, you stripped yourself from your rights: there is no permission for you to leave and you have no right to have any visitors around."

Like most times, I did not have much to say. I desperately wished I would have those _creative _words Rose always seemed to have for any and every situation she got herself into. I was not Rose; I was Sydney, the girl almost everyone stepped on. "Yes, ma'am. Is there anything else, or can I head inside my room?"

"Go to your room," Andrea commanded, turning on her heel and walking away.

Inside my room, I could do anything but stay still and stay calm.

"What are you going to do?" Adrian asked, concern lining his features.

"I think you should leave," I blurted out. "You heard Andrea."

"It doesn't have to be like that. I have powers that can be quite influential," Adrian whispered, tapping his head.

I sure had something to say to his suggestion. "You can't take care of yourself, can you imagine taking care of us?" I told him, pointing at myself, rubbing my hand over my stomach, to show who was 'us'. "See, it is best you go, because without us, you can live your life however it was you imagined you would live your life."

"Sydney—you can't send me away."

"I can't. But what if I don't want you here?"

I saw pain on Adrian's face before I saw him walk out of my room.

I lost a part of myself when I realized my family believed I wasn't worthy enough to belong with them; I lost another part of myself as Adrian left. So, I ignored all my feelings, allowing them to be barricaded by the iciest stone to avoid easy escape. I had to be strong for me, for the baby, and for anything else that wanted to destroy me.

A black bag I had dropped against the bed earlier tantalized me, almost pulling me towards it, calling me to go towards the bag. I peeked inside. The small leather bag Zoe had given me had all the checks I had sent over, plus a few other items that seemed inconsequential. Finally, I found something folded up inside a jean pocket, jeans that were most likely not meant to be inside the bag, a small note written on the tiniest piece of paper.

It was only six words, six words that haunted me.

_Witch hunt. You are the witch. _

As I read the note, I could almost feel his eyes on me.

_My family wasn't doing this chasing. . ._

**Well, what is your reaction to this?**

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**Thanks so much for reading!**

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**-Melissa **


	12. Chapter 12

**Not much to say. But thanks a lot for reviewing. And for continuing to read this story that I am seriously am doubting. If this chapter is kinda choppy, please excuse me. I couldn't go another day without updating. **

**DISCLAIMER: All VA details belong to Richelle Mead. **

I was sick for the millionth time the week following after the scene at my parents' house. My growing middle had me feeling the urge to stay and laze in bed all day, but it was unlikely I could do so. Running away, or so Andrea strongly believed I had tried to escape and never come back to the institution, had me on a short leash. I was not allowed the same privileges of before, before where I had been free to do anything I wanted, as long as Mira needed me, and according to Mira, she needed me around all day.

I groaned and prayed, prayed for myself, for my life, for the additional life I had growing inside me. Unlike some people, I prayed aloud. "God, I thank you for giving me another day to live, and I would love if you gave me strength to get through another day of living. I love you, God. Amen." I breathed in, and when I released the air, I felt strengthened once more; I had enough gathered strength inside to toss the bed blankets aside and stand up to live through another morning.

After getting ready for the day ahead, I met Mira downstairs, in one of the private eating rooms, each room set only for a maximum of four people. I was thankful I had finally found the strength to wake up early this morning, earlier than what I had been expected to wake up, to talk to Mira, and talk to her about my life, have her talk about her life. I almost had never seen her since the embarrassing showdown with Andrea. Mira was due soon, and it only made feel depressed, because soon, she would have to give up her baby. I could imagine the pain she was feeling. Anyone with an unwanted pregnancy would be willing to assume giving up the baby would be easy, but after feeling the baby live inside you, presented by a baby kick or baby punch—that was when things became difficult.

The good time I was having was interrupted by a pair of eyes staring down at me with no amusement, just disappointment. Always disappointed.

"Sydney, have you forgotten of your punishment?" she asked, setting her hands on her hips, looking down at me, staring at me with disgust. "You are supposed to be working. Five minutes late won't do any good in your situation."

Mira gave me a glance of pity as Andrea hauled me away to the institution office, where I worked as a personal assistant, arranging papers, making copies, and having this older man that sported a wedding band stare at my behind when he thought I wasn't looking. It was sickening, yes, but it made me feel glad and powerful that he wouldn't look at his wife as he did with me, his wife who was my enemy as of now, Andrea.

And even though I knew it was a sin, I took pleasure in knowing Andrea hated me for her husband's actions.

"Sydney, would you be useful enough to bring me some coffee?" Andrea threw herself against a rolling chair, sitting beside her husband who was suddenly preoccupied with the computer in front of him, pretending to do work. He always pretended to work when anyone was around; he had gotten a little too comfortable with me around, which was why I knew his habits, dropping his working facades, opting to play unnatural alien games without a care in the world.

"Sweetened?" I asked her, hoping the venom in me was hidden.

Andrea breathed out, disbelief over her face. "Sydney, are you seriously asking this—not sweetened, but I do want the liquid creamer replacing the sugar. One spoonful of coffee will do." Andrea turned back to her computer, clicking away. "Just leave. Get out of my face. And bring me back my coffee. Please hurry. We have a lot of work to do."

I didn't have to walk far to the snack room, thankfully. Inside the room, I considered revenge, putting some crawling bug inside Andrea's coffee, but I still had my morals. I made the coffee and went back to Andrea.

I heard whispers behind the ajar door.

By what I heard, I assumed I wasn't supposed to have been listening to any portion of the conversation.

"Ugh...Sydney Sage is getting on my nerves! We must do something about her. "

"Like what?"

"Get rid of her, for sure. I can't stand her any longer."

I decided not to be stepped on this time. I pushed open the door, smiling for Andrea, my face hopefully not giving off anything of what I had just heard.

"Andrea, here is your coffee."

Andrea was rattled, fooling around with some papers, trying to play off her unease by pretending to be preoccupied with important papers. I left her in unease and fetched her husband some coffee as well because he was whining like a girl, wishing once more I was back in bed covered in blankets from head to toe. In the minute it had taken me to get Andrea's husband's coffee, she was still wildly rummaging through papers. When I saw her drop a few papers, I squatted down and handed them to her.

"There you go, Andrea. You dropped these."

The momentary power, or so I believed, I had over her gave me a sense of fulfillment, but then I realized I shouldn't—this lady was a murderer in disguise. She wanted to destroy two lives, mine, and the baby inside me. _For wealth_, I realized instantly. For money. Dirty, useless money. Money turned people into worthless and greedy people, qualities both her husband and Andrea possessed, I could see.

Andrea cleared her throat. "Sydney, I want you to make copies of these." She handed me a stack of papers. "For the green and blue papers, make a hundred copies. For the rest, it is fifty copies. Go. I have a discussion pending with my husband."

As I was doing the copies, organizing them when the printer was done copying, I felt a sudden urge to cry. And I did. But after ten minutes—I never had a cry longer than ten minutes—I had not a clue of how to stop. My tears kept coming; my crying quickly turning into uncontainable sobbing, with big dinosaur tears falling out my eyes, spilling out over my shirt, making my appearance messy. I cried a while, not knowing why I was crying, just that I needed to cry. For a moment, the papers coming out from the printer seemed like the saddest tragedy in the world.

When I was done with half the papers Andrea assigned me to do, a hand reached out to me and touched my shoulders, rubbing them softly.

"Sydney, are you alright, dear?"

Knowing it was just a game, I turned over to find Andrea staring at me with a concerned face. But. . .my sponsors stood there as well, or the wife stood by Andrea. Denise smiled at me, still keeping hold of my shoulders.

"Yes, I am," I told them both.

"Then why are you crying? What is making you sad?"

"Pregnancy has me haywire," I said, sniffling.

"I can relate," Denise said. "I was pregnant once. Not the easiest experience."

"Yes. Not the easiest. Especially when you have to give up—"

Andrea cut me off by talking once more. "Denise, I think we should leave Sydney alone. She needs to be working."

Denise patted my shoulder and walked off with Andrea.

I turned back to the printer but it seemed I was not going to be left alone.

A nurse I knew, because she walked around the institution all the time, was calling my name.

"Sydney, right? Are you Sydney Sage?"

"That is me."

The nurse nodded, speaking. "I came to inform you—Mira has gone into labor. She told me to tell you not to worry, that she is a strong Mira and she will breeze through this."

"Isn't it too early to go into labor for her?" I asked the nurse.

The nurse nodded again. "A week or so, but baby will be fine. Mira was doing some work and that caused her to go into early labor. But I know both baby and her will do good." The nurse gave me a chirpy smile, rubbing my stomach. "It won't be long before you are in her position."

I didn't say anything and with another smile, the nurse walked away.

Life didn't really want me to be alone because Denise came back from Andrea's office, not exactly happy. Glancing around, Denise pulled me close to her, leaning down to whisper to me.

"Andrea hasn't introduced us, but I am Denise. Your sponsor. I give Andrea money so you could be in comfort here in this place. But I know she keeps most of the money." Denise looked around once more. "I can't say much now because I have ticked off Andrea and she asked me to leave, but next visit, I promise I will tell you _everything." _

"Okay." But I was confused.

Denise hugged me. "Take care. And watch out for Andrea. She is nothing short of evil." She released, pointing at the ajar door. "Listen," she whispered, before walking away.

Curious, I went to stand by the door, hoping to catch some of the conversation.

"Denise is irritating me," Andrea whispered, sounding annoyed.

"Andrea, forget about Denise. . .we have to make Sydney lose the baby. . ."

_What?_

". . .they did sign the contract, if she lost the baby, we would still get paid. . ."

". . .accidental fall down the stairs wouldn't hurt anyone. . ."

"But the baby," Andrea said, laugh of cruelty filling up the room.

"We need to eliminate her. . ."

"The world would be better without the uptight nut Sydney is. . ."

". . .but damn, she is too smart. . ."

". . .and she will know something is up. . ."

"What can we do?"

". . .oh, the possibilities! It is too easy to kill. . ."

"Poison her would be the smartest idea. . ."

"That is exactly what I did to the rattrap donor of Sydney's lover. She did a bad move with me and. . .she didn't deserve to live.

"Sydney does not deserve to make it past her second trimester, which she won't. And still will get our money! Our work will be done easy and fast."

_Andrea wants to kill me. _

Before I had time to analyze the situation further, I tripped over my own clumsy feet. I had hoped the door would somehow aid me from tumbling, but an unclosed door had no support if it wasn't connected to the doorframe; the door was opening as I dropped, falling right into Andrea's opened office. I fell, throwing out my hands to protect my stomach, my baby.

Everything became a blur and I fainted, but not before I saw blood.

**Wow. Crazy. **

**Thanks for those awesome reviews you give me! **

**Take much care.**

**-Melissa **

**Review. That lets me know you want me to continue this story. **

**PS: I wrote a Dimitri/Rose story...if you interested in reading. **


	13. Chapter 13

**Phew. I promised a chapter today and here it is. There has been too much drama happening in chapters before this one, so I decided to give you guys a breather. This chapter also answers many questions you guys have been asking. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter because I certainly enjoyed writing it, especially the "lovely" part. Enjoy! I promise I will add more romance in the next chapter. **

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own the VA details in here **

When I came to my senses, Adrian was standing near the door, watching me with weary, but concerned eyes.

"What—"

He came to my side instantly, putting a hand to my shoulder. I was calmed promptly. With a closer look, Adrian looked _really _tired.

"Before anything else, the baby is in perfect health." Adrian touched my cheek, helping me up when he noticed me struggling to sit up from the bed I was chained to, it felt like. From the start, I hated hospitals, especially the hospital cots. My mother had to drag me inside a clinic every time I was scheduled for a checkup. Even if I was feeling a million times worse than I was feeling now, I would trade it so as long as I could be in my own bed. But I would stay inside this damned hospital, risk a part of my sanity, just so my baby could be healthy. "You just need to recover. And relax."

The worried thoughts rummaging my mind could not help me relax entirely. "Mira. . .how is Mira? Her baby?"

I watched as Adrian slowly took a seat beside, the silence he gave me almost painful to me. "Her baby is well."

"And Mira?"

"How are you feeling?" Adrian asked, taking hold of my hand.

"Confused. . .but I feel well rested and _well_. I want to be out of this prison bed as soon as possible."

"If you're lucky, you'll be out of this hospital right away. But. . .you sure you alright?"

"Yes, I am. _But _how is _Mira_?"

Adrian stayed quiet. "Denise is here to see you."

The good mood I had been experiencing exploded into _explosive. _"Adrian! Don't be such a pain. How is Mira?"

"Sydney. . ." Adrian closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. He lifted his head and looked at me again with pained eyes. And extremely tired eyes. Too tired. "Denise is here to see you."

"You already said that! I want to know how Mira is doing—"

"Sydney, I can't tell you anything because I don't know how Mira is doing. Denise when to investigate. Until she comes back with information, I am not sure what to tell you."

"Thank you," I snapped at him, covering my eyes with my hand, falling back against the bed once more, wanting to run away from everything in anything, hide in a place where I would always be safe. I had lived enough to know my dreams of that second were unrealistic. "Telling me you didn't know about Mira's health would have been much better than dragging out the answer of my question."

"I am sorry, Sydney. I am still very much traumatized over what has happened to you." Adrian yawned, eyes closing, resting his head against the bed. "I do believe I am not capable of caring about somebody else when the person I love most in this world is in the hospital."

I was trapped in my own confusion, wanting answers about Mira. I was confused but I was also feeling something different inside; Adrian's words sure helped increase _those different _feelings as well. I uncovered my eyes and felt guilt creep up into myself as I looked over at the exhausted and almost vulnerable Adrian. Reaching out my hand, my fingers caught themselves inside the mess that was his hair. For once, his hair was not styled sloppily; it was actually messy this time.

The guilt was eating up my heart.

But the love I felt for him was much stronger.

"What do you have to be sorry for? You don't have to be sorry. I am mostly at blame here for the ridiculous actions I took, for the upsetting choices I made."

"Nobody is blaming you, my love. I sure as hell am not blaming you. If you wanted to send me away because you wanted me away, then fine. I can't complain, because I know I have not been the best for you."

"Adrian, no. No. Don't say those words. You have been more than wonderful to me. You don't see it, but I sure do. Adrian, you are amazing."

"Wrong you are. I don't see myself the way you describe me."

Adrian lifted his head to look at me for a second, before lowering himself once more. With tears in my eyes—_great, on top of being guilty, I was also going to start being teary, just great_—I began smoothing my fingers through his hair again. Oh, Christ. How could I ever deny this man? He was everything I was not, everything I was supposed to despise in my life, but he was also everything I wanted in my life. I never wanted for him to leave me and _I _never wanted to leave him.

"I love you," I blurted out. "I know I almost never say it, and sometimes what I do contradicts what I say, but I love you."

Adrian was unresponsive at first, but slowly, he came to life, starting by moving his hand over my stomach, rubbing the area softly. To me, the simple hand action amounted to the million words he would not say, the million words I wanted to hear from him. I was filled with a great magnitude of love and compassion. I loved Adrian. How could I have been foolish in sending him away? Sure, it had been only for a week, but nevertheless. . .I loved him, and I needed him by my side, for the rest of my life.

"I am glad you finally came to your senses," Adrian finally whispered.

Adrian had a small smirk on his face when he noticed my expectant eyes on him and my _Is that all? _expression. Just because I felt quite a touch to my heart with his simple hand touch did not mean I was entirely content. I wanted to hear the words.

"What?" he asked, a more pronounced smirk playing on his lips.

I took in a breath, took a second to calm myself. I could hate and love this man in the same breath. "You said Denise was here to see me. . .what could she possibly want?"

"To see you," Adrian said bluntly.

"Okay, Adrian, you are so helpful!" I felt my bad mood rise again. Curse these pregnancy mood swings. "Why are _you _here?"

"Goodness, Sage, you don't want me here?" Adrian shook his head and leaned back in his chair, resting his head on his palm, looking over at me. "So we can go back to being the all-in love couple. . .I was waiting outside in the car, while Denise did business inside the institution. She was working out a deal with Andrea, she never told me what, when she came running out, telling me you were hurt—Sydney, did Andrea hurt you?"

"No," I said. "I overheard a conversation and I tripped over my feet, oh. . .really, I do not know what happened, but I fell." _The freaking hilarity of it—I was turning into a superwoman when suddenly I trip over thin air!_ "And I bled? I remember seeing blood before passing out." I touched my stomach. "Are you sure the baby is well?"

"The baby is growing as it should, not interruptions, healthy—I made sure my two loves were healthy." As Adrian set his hand on my arm, I felt a wonderful sensation fill me up. _Magic. _He had used his Moroi magic to help me and the baby out. I had no idea how he had done it, but I knew he had healed us. "I know you used your magic. . .but I saw blood. It must have been serious."

"You somehow hit your nose and that was the cause of the bleeding." Adrian shrugged at my mystified expression. "One amazing thing about the Moroi race is the magic we possess, we control; we can do some powerful stuff with our magic. Rose. . .Lissa brought her back to life. Dimitri. . .he went from dhampir to Strigoi back to dhampir. A nose bleed wouldn't be a hassle, would it?"

"Amazing," I whispered.

Adrian shrugged, looking over to the door when we heard rapid fists beat against the door.

I was alarmed. I could not face Andrea in that second. I could not face her.

"If it is Andrea. . .if it is her, please don't let her in." Moments of before my _accident_ came to my memory. The conversation between Andrea and her husband haunted my thoughts of that second. "Don't let her in, Adrian. She wants to kill me, but most importantly, she wants to kill my baby. She wants to kill my baby—"

"Calm, sweetheart. Andrea is not going to hurt you." Adrian came to stand by my side once again, leaning down to whisper in my ear. "My magic is very powerful. . .I can convince her to throw herself off a cliff. Or something equally as bad."

Adrian's terrifying words sounded beautiful to my ears.

I was in hysterics as Adrian calmly stood up and unlocked the door to allow Denise to enter.

"How do you know it is Denise?" I whispered fiercely, scared.

"Andrea would have just walked in." Adrian backed away, sitting on the chair to leave me to Denise.

Denise hesitantly entered the hospital room, tears filling up her eyes immediately. "Sydney. . .Sydney. . ." Even more tears dripped out of her eyes as she came to stand next to my side, opposite of Adrian. When she reached me, she leaned down and embraced me, and while she hugged me, I cried. She possessed such a motherly concern—I was overwhelmed because, simply put, I almost never had this maternal concern directed towards me.

Denise pulled away, wiping her tears, but the waterworks kept on coming. "She hurt you, didn't you?"

"Denise, fortunately, no. I tripped over my own feet, or something like that."

Denise sat on an empty chair. "I am sorry for being so hysterical. Andrea. . .she hurt my daughter and I am not sure if she is going to make it through the night." Denise's eyes were filled with tears and pain and anger, the pain overwhelming everything else. "Andrea took away one of my babies; she killed my Beth; she can't take my only baby."

"Mira is your daughter," I realized. Why? Why didn't I see it before? The way Mira was always treated with better care than everyone else.

Denise nodded. "Shocked?"

"Very much."

Denise gave me small, humorless smile. "Andrea is my sister, by the way."

Even Adrian was taken aback by that revelation.

"Yeah, she is my sister. Half the time, I wish she were not, because she is doing all this bad stuff for money."

"But, but. . ."I stuttered, taking a breath to steady myself. "How is Mira involved in all of this?"

"I was a foolish mother!" Denise exclaimed. "Andrea told me she would stop doing all this harm if I allowed Mira to have a baby, a 'unique baby' as Andrea likes to say, because the babies are supposedly top line, with almost inhuman abilities. I wanted to reunite with my sister, so I agreed, and Mira agreed because she would do anything to see me happy." I was distracted, distracted with my own thoughts. Moroi and human genes combining resulted in a dhampir. Although a dhampir was not as amazing as Moroi, dhampir were still quite admirable. Unique baby. It all made sense. Andrea just wanted money; she did not want to help the dhampir race.

"But now. . .I realize people change and what can we do?"

I empathized. My own family had turned on me. What _could _we do?

Denise took my hand in hers. "Sydney, I want you to leave the institution. Once you are free to go from this hospital, I want you out of that place. Go back for show and leave as soon as Andrea feels like she has power over you. Leave her and _show _her who has power, show her _you _have control of your own life."

I nodded in agreement. I would get of that place. And Andrea needed to die.

"If she did not hesitate to hurt her own niece, her family, do you think she would spare you?" Denise shook her head in shame for her sister, anger filling her eyes once more. "Promise me, Sydney. You will leave."

"I will leave," I promised.

"I will fight for you. And I will fight for Mira's life. My baby can't die." Denise gave me another one of her motherly hugs before she exited the room.

Adrian finally spoke after a few seconds. I had almost forgotten we were inside the same room with all the drama. "What is going to happen now? And if you want to send me away. . .you are foolish. I will not leave."

I allowed a second of humor before I turned serious once more.

"Andrea will pay for this," I vowed.

**Ah. And she will pay for all that she has done. In due time, of course. **

**Thanks for the awesome support you give me! It motivates me to write. **

**I love you all!**

**Take care**

**-Melissa **

**Because I had this sudden desire to do so, I wrote about half of the next chapter. I will give you a 150-200 word sneak peak when I reply to your review;) **


	14. Chapter 14

**Don't have anything to say. But hopefully you enjoy. You needed an update but I had no idea what to write. This is a filler chapter!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own VA. Just like playing around with RM'S world. **

I looked ready to face down the world, an army of soldiers filled with bloodlust, anything that would get in my way in that second. Ironically enough, I was quivering inside, wondering how I could just walk into the institution and walk out like I owned the place, like nothing major was affecting my life in that moment. My feelings could rival the emotions of an extremely timid person walking naked in front of a stage that overlooked a large audience, or the emotions of someone being sent to war without knowledge of what was to find out in the battlefield.

"I can't do this," I whispered.

"Don't be afraid. I am right here for you." The person right beside me took hold of my hand. "Breathe in, breathe out. Regardless of how you feel, we are going to do this."

I held myself from looking at my companion with disbelief but I did ask a question that was laced with skepticism. "How can you be so _ready _for this? I thought with how close to death you were, I thought you would be trembling by my side, walking in this place with your mother by your side, holding her hand. You seem so not afraid."

"Well, if it helps, I am freaking peeing in my pants right now." Mira gave me a humorless smile. "Now, you have to hold my hand. I can't stand that freaking lady. I hate her with my life. You know how hard it was to give up my baby? I had the baby and I barely glanced at him when Andrea stole him right out of my hands, giving me a drink of water, urging me to drink. Then this mysterious nurse showed up, injecting me with I-have-no-clue-what and I passed out, almost dying, waking up days later to find Andrea had successfully taken away my son."

"Are you mad?"

"Do you really have to ask that? But yes—I am freaking pissed off! I am thinking about digging a hole and _purposefully _have Andrea fall inside. She took my life away. She freaking robbed the life away from me. And why? For my mother's money, for the money she never could have because she married the crackhead rapist. If he finally decides to kill her, I would not do anything to stop him. Perhaps I can call a ceasefire, because I cannot stand him either, but perhaps I can help him out."

"No. We can't think violent." I smiled. "I think all this vengeance calls for a trip to the chemistry lab. You don't know how many destructive things you can do by combing the elements."

"I was more preoccupied with flirting with the chemistry teacher than trying to learn the elements." Mira glanced at me curiously. "Do you think you can toss up something explosive, like a bomb?"

"Not a bomb. But I can make things explode."

"Sydney, I love your nerdiness."

"Nerdiness?"

"Intelligence, I mean. Sydney, you are so intelligent. If you manage to make Andrea's head explode, I will remain loving you."

"It is possible. . ." I let my words trail off as I reached the doors of the institution. Andrea stood like a mini devil behind the glass doors, waiting for us with a cruel smile.

"She reminds me of a bat, held back by the hands of dark. An oddly formed bat, that is for sure—"

"Agreed. Now, Sydney, I love this I-hate-and-can-destroy-everyone attitude of yours, but I don't think Andrea would be excited over you running your mouth about how much you dislike her. We have to play fake for our sake."

"I don't know if I can do that."

"Yes, you can. Get over you uptight, religious ways for a second—you can be a mean person. You can't go through this life without having a backbone. Andrea needs a beating from your backbone. You are going to be a bitch to the munchkin demon that, as you mentioned, largely resembles a bat with a large ass head on a chicken drumstick body."

I released a series of softs laughed that quickly faded into silence as Mira opened the door for me. For a person that claimed everyone needed to be tough and mean, she was contradicting her own words by sending me off into the lion's den first. I entered, scared for my life.

"Sydney, I am glad you did not die," the words slithered out of the serpent's mouth. Andrea did not even acknowledge Mira, not even a look. In the end, everyone was your enemy, even family stabbed you in the back. I took Mira's advice. A person could not get far without a backbone, or being a pushover.

I took my stand in the world, resorting to that backbone I knew I had, acting as if Andrea had not said anything, as if Andrea did not exist, continuing in my path. Not for the first time, I was thankful of my gender; females possessed bitchiness, a natural bitchiness, a sometimes beautiful craziness that intimidated many. And judging by how red the bat turned, I knew she did not enjoy my "natural traits". Mira and I made it safely to the bedroom I had been assigned to when I had first been imprisoned in the institution.

"In a way, I am glad she did not explode. I am wearing a white shirt today; I would not want her staining my white blouse your mother gifted me with."

Mira covered her mouth, laughing. "No. That did not come out of your mouth! I knew there was a beastly girl in you!"

I gave her a small, sad smile. I had no one to rely on, and if I wasn't strong enough for myself, how the hell was I going to get through life?

It took about millisecond for the power I had been feeling to be replaced by awe and infinite love as I glanced around the room. The room was empty of _my stuff _(all of the institution's stuff was where it should have been). _Daddy did this for us, so we did not have to do anything stressing for us_. I touched my stomach as another round of love filled me up once more. _Daddy does love us, _I thought, speaking to my unborn child.

Adrian had promised me I would not do anything that had to do with manual labor and he had kept his promise. He promised he would take care of everything while I prepared myself to figuratively slap Andrea in the face.

"Wow, I can see the man loves you. Well, not just because of _this_—but I mean, I have this thing I can tell when people are being hypocrites. I always knew that bitch bat was as fake as. . .anything, I can't think of anything. But yeah. She is a freaking hypocrite—you understand how much I dislike her."

"You're not alone," I whispered.

Before I had time to add anything else the chicken drumstick and bat mutation burst into the room, eyes ablaze with anger.

"Sydney! How dare you walk into my home without acknowledging me? I am boss here and you do what I say. You stay here until you have the baby."

I was strangely calm, acting as if I were the day and she were the thunderstorm that ruined the peace of the day. "I am free, free to do as I please."

"Sydney, you have no permission to leave here."

"You have no permission to have me here," I threw back.

"Yes, I do. You signed the paper!"

"I never signed anything."

Andrea shut up. "You need to stay here. We will take care of your baby and you. We take care of people."

"Is that why you wanted to kill me?" Mira asked, calmer than I was in that moment. To come to think of it, I was not even calm. At all. I was ready to explode by all the anger that was consuming my insides, to do something harmful to Andrea. "Because you wanted to take care of me?"

"No, no, Mira, it was not like that—"

Mira shook her head. "The killing part does not really matter, but my baby—what did you do to him? I know how my mother feels, I know how she felt when you took my sister away and did away with her."

"Don't talk to me." Like a teenager drama queen who had gotten rejected by her crowd, Andrea turned to me, with nothing else to say to Mira, realizing I was easier to shove around. "You still stay here and be committed to your sperm donor, your baby's daddy."

"I am committed to my baby's father."

"No. I never see you around Trevor."

"I don't need to be around Trevor."

"You need to be around Trevor."

"I think not."

"I think so. He is the father of your baby, is he not?"

"Do you remember that man, that man that is always with me, with the greenest eyes? Yeah, you remember him. He is the father of my baby."

Andrea turned red; she was livid. "There is a reason why we assigned you to your original sperm donor! Your genes together are spectacular. With _him_, the guy you drag around—your baby is most likely going to be a drug addict, good for nothing."

"I have had enough of you!—"

I did not give Mira the chance to break free from the chains of her control because I reached out and put every last part of my willpower behind the slap I gave to Andrea's cheek. I gathered up my courage and told the woman words I had never used before. "No, you bitch! Shut the hell up! My baby is going to be successful! And beautiful! And he or she is going to be _mine_, just mine and Adrian's, not yours! You'll see."

"If you leave, you will never be free!"

I shrugged. "At least I will have my baby."

I pushed her away from me, dragging Mira along outside, outside to the free world.

**Share your thoughts. I love to hear what you guys have to say! Thanks so much for the awesome reviews I receive:) **

**-Melissa **


	15. Chapter 15

**Always, ever thankful for reviewing, but for reading! The chapter took on a different turn, thanks for a reviewer planting this idea into my head. If you want to thank somebody, thank ****lovingbites ****for bring this idea to this table. Thank you! Like always, hopefully you like this chapter!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything any of the VA details here in this story. **

I breathed in. I breathed out. My head rested against the glass window of the restroom, the place where I could _only _feel safe. I knew the logic of my actions—in the end, not even a locked door could save me from harm, but I was comfortable knowing I was inside this place. _Breath, Sydney. Everything will be alright._ Each time I released a breath, the glass stained with fog, a symbol to the great depression I had fallen to. I was away from the institution and Andrea, but I realized they had not been the biggest threat of my life.

The writer of the mysterious note I had found not so long ago was the person that was the biggest threat.

According to my alchemist resources, a guy that appeared harmless to the population did not want me to be alive in this world. The guy had never fooled me; I saw right through his deceitful ways. The guy—Keith had gone psycho, escaped from wherever he had been, began to follow me, and claimed he would not do anything until Sydney Sage was dead, a death delivered to me by his own hands.

The words Keith had written on the note now made sense.

_Witch hunt. You are the witch. _

Keith was hunting. For me.

And most definitely wanted to see me dead.

I put my hand on my stomach where I carried a baby exact for my five months of gestation. I received a kick in return.

_It will be alright, baby. I would never let anything happen to you. And neither would your father. _

Feeling another flutter against my hand, I was strengthened once more, ready for the day ahead.

When I walked out of the restroom, Adrian was awake, sitting up against the bed, looking up at me.

I quickly covered myself, quickening my pace to the enclosure of the closet. Adrian and I had enjoyed each other last night and really, even after all this time of being together, I still was a bit timid of being in naked in front of him.

"I don't understand your aversion to me seeing you undressed."

"You have to understand," I began, from the closet, picking up a random shirt of Adrian's and slipped it over my body. In this pregnant state of mine, I found myself constantly in loose and large shirts. If my father would see my appearance right now—I was sure he would freak. "You have to understand—my father was very controlling of our appearance, and with this new pregnant body of mine. . .I am not very comfortable with people looking at me."

Comfortable in his shirt that covered most of my body, especially my growing stomach, I exited the closet, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"I find you beautiful pregnant or not, Sydney. I see no flaw on your body. Being pregnant makes you more beautiful to me."

"Quit trying to make me feel better!" I snapped at him, annoyed for some reason.

"I am not trying to make you feel better. I am only saying the truth right now."

"You are so infuriating!"

"I feel like arguments aren't going to solve anything here. I am telling the truth and you are choosing to believe it is a lie. Why? That is beyond me." Adrian threw the covers off himself, stretching out his naked body, walking into the bathroom. "I want you to know that I am trying, Sydney. I am really am trying for us. But you're unresponsive to me. It feels like you're just using me for sex."

I couldn't say anything; it was hard to get through the lump in my throat.

"I know Keith is out there, wanting to kill you—be we got Denise's money on our side. And we have guardians, my guardians on my side. Do you think Keith could get through badass guardians?"

Again, I could not say a word. He had reason—but my pessimistic side did not see reason.

"What do you want me to do, Sydney? I am doing something and you are not doing anything." Adrian closed the door of the restroom, leaving me to think of his words.

I wanted to cry as soon as I realized he was right.

But while I was living in fear, how could I move on through life?

My misery took control of my life and every moment I lived I was either crying and thinking of the moment where Keith would find me and hurt me and hurt my baby and my love. Even in sleep, and sleeping was the time where a person should be at upmost peace, my dreams consisted of blood, lots of blood. And pain. I always dreamed about finding Adrian dead or that my baby was born too soon and that my baby did not survive—_stop! Stop, Sydney. _

"We're safe," I told myself and the baby, hoping the tears would stop falling and that I could finally have that little piece of heaven that everyone else seemed to be living in. Adrian was so right, he had all the truth on his side. I was not trying. I spent my days and nights, crying, thinking of a what would happen if Keith found me. But it needed to stop—it seriously needed to stop. I needed to stop being depressed. Try to stop being depressed.

Feeling exhaustion creep up to me once more, I laid back against the bed, slipping under the covers to recover the hours of sleep I had lost last night.

Sometime later, I swatted my hand towards my face, hoping maybe I could shoo away the light of the sun that was directed towards my face. For the first time, miraculously, I slept dreaming of _nothing. _Of course, I wanted to dream of beautiful paradises and naughty scenes with Adrian, but that was pushing it. I swatted at the sunlight once more, realizing how futile my attempts were. The sunlight would only go away if I reached up and fixed the curtains.

Pissed off at the curtains, I threw the covers off my body, irritated at haven been woken up. Hoping to burn off some steam, I made my way into the shower, jumping inside the shower when the water was at the temperature I wanted it to be. To make the day worse, the water turned ice-cold while I was trying to relax. _Great, just freaking great. _Still annoyed, I went out of the shower, toweling myself off, and dressing myself for the day.

But my negative and bitchy thoughts were quick to fade from my mind when I walked out of the restroom and bedroom, walking into the living room.

Adrian sat, deep in thought, on the couch, intent on the college work he had been assigned for the week. Since Adrian and I did not have much, Denise and her husband said they would give us some help if Adrian—Denise and Richard knew of Adrian's crazy ways, Denise was some old friend of Adrian's mother—went back to college and ditched all the crazy behaviors. Adrian had been quick to act up on the offer and he and I both were very thankful to the kind couple.

I decided to ignore him, leave him to his work, and went directly into the kitchen to fix up a meal that would give me energy for the rest of the day. I was feeling like the biggest Andrea—the biggest bitch—when I noticed Adrian already had fixed me a meal. I must have been the most horrible person in the world. A woman out there in this world was suffering because her man was worthless—but here I was with a man that was worth gold and I was treating him better than I would treat trash, which was not good at all.

I sat down at the table, almost swallowing all that had been served to me. As I ate, I saw a small square paper against the glass of the table. Chewing on a small carrot, I picked up the paper, reading the small, sloppy writing, Adrian's handwriting. _I wanted to make you breakfast in bed, but you fell asleep on me. I hope this meal made it up, though. Happy Birthday. I love you with my whole life. _

I was too depressed to notice it—it was my birthday!

Who the hell forgets their own birthday?

Me.

Adrian was not the brightest crayon in the box, but for sure he was becoming a bit brighter than I was.

I forgot my own freaking birthday!

_This bi-polar-ism should not rule my life anymore. _

A bit embarrassed, after picking up my plate and cleaning the mess I had made, I walked to the living room to meet Adrian. He did not notice me, too lost in his schoolwork, so I had to speak to get his attention.

"Thank you," I told him. "The food definitely made it up. And. . .sorry for snapping at you earlier and all the time. I know you only mean well, but hell. . .this fear is taking over my life—blah, I am done with excuses. I love you and I need you in my life. I am going to try for us."

A smile played at Adrian's lips. He pushed his schoolwork away and patted the spot beside him.

I joined him on the couch, leaning into to him.

Adrian moved to hold me, kissing my lips.

I was smiling when Adrian pulled from my lips, but still remained with his lips kissing my body, not stopping until he reached my stomach, pressing his ear against my stomach.

"You're amazing," I whispered, running my hand through his hair.

"I know. And you have your moments at being amazing too. . ."

I laughed, the laugh fading into a huge smile.

"Sydney?" Adrian looked at me with hopeful eyes.

"Adrian?"

"What do you say about opening some presents?"

"Okay! But nothing better explode on me."

Adrian shook his head, grin on his face. He stood up, running to the storage closet inside the kitchen, returning with a small gift bag and small wrapped box. I could tell he was somewhat nervous because he pretended like his homework was the most fascinating in the world. So used to Adrian being well, _Adrian_, I reached into the gift bag, pulling out a silk nightgown.

"I really need this."

"You sure did. I don't mind you wearing them, but my shirt count was running low."

I giggled, thoughts of our love scene from last night entering my mind.

"I know I will sleep comfortable in this. . ."

Adrian turned back to his schoolwork, ignoring me.

I moved to the other present, unwrapping the small gift box.

There was writing all over the small box and it took me while to understand what was written on the box.

I had a bit of shock—or _great _shock when I finally realized what was written.

_Will you marry me? _

I did not need to look any further than the box to realize that Adrian wanted to marry me.

_Still—gosh, you're a bit slow, Sydney. _

Adrian finally looked over at me, small smile on his lips.

"I predicted screaming and nagging when you saw the box, not silence. Give me something."

"I am ready to scream," I whispered. "You haven't even asked me to be your girlfriend, but you want to marry me?"

Adrian chuckled, taking the box from my hand. "Alright. Forget this for a second."

"Ah, no. I liked where it was going."

"You'll like this. . .Sydney, will you be my girlfriend?"

I rolled my eyes, but nodded.

Adrian handed me the ring box once more. "Now that I have asked you to be my girlfriend, I want to know if you'll be my wife. I know we're moving too fast, but really—this life is moving too fast. We have to catch up somehow. And if it doesn't work out, you know there is always divorce."

"Adrian! Already so sure our marriage won't work?"

"I am just saying, beautiful alchemist," Adrian said with the largest smile.

_See, choose to live for the great minor details in life and choose to ignore the negative major things of life. Life is too short—don't miss the time to enjoy this life. Choose to be happy. Pessimism can't rule my life. Happiness and love are much too powerful to let that happen to me. Adrian's love is too powerful to let my depression have a great hold on me. _

Not for the first time in my life, I wondered what was wrong with Rose.

She could have had this wonderful man with her, but she chose another man over Adrian.

I could not be judgmental and I could emphasize.

Love had found its way into my heart and it had lived there ever since.

Rose loved Dimitri and she wanted to be with him.

I loved Adrian and I wanted to be with him.

And I was going to marry him.

"Sydney, come on, girl. It's not easy to wait for a girl's answer on a marriage proposal. I might pass out."

I laughed and threw my arms around Adrian. "Yes, you big goof. I would love to marry you."

Adrian groaned, but I could tell it was faked. "Please, Sydney! Please not those horrible nicknames!"

"I am sorry. . .I am very happy right now. I don't know what to say."

Adrian kissed me, putting his hand to my stomach. "And baby, what does baby say of this?"

"Baby is happy."

When I met Adrian's eyes again, there were a few tears in them. "Great. Great. I love you both and I love it when you're both happy."

I _was_ happy, Keith long forgotten.

**I hope it was not too fluffy for you guys. Sometimes I feel out of place on this site because I come up with the most random writing topics—hopefully its not too much for you guys. Sad to say this story has a few chapters left, I am glad you guys have stuck with me till now! You're awesome! **

**Please share your thoughts! **

**-Melissa **

**love adrian****, if you're reading this: THANK YOU! **


	16. Chapter 16

**I couldn't update a chapter because I had no idea what to write for the last four chapters. But finally, I brainstormed, wrote down my thoughts, and I finally figured out what is going to happen in these last chapters. I thank you for sticking with me and continuing to read my story. I appreciate it greatly! **

**Dedicated to ****Ashley Ayoub**** for pushing me to finish this chapter. Evangeline129: I am sorry for all the depressing stuff. I get very bi-polar with this story, for some reason. I am so thankful you continue reading. I really don't know how to thank you enough! But thank you! And thanks everyone else who reads and reviews this story! **

_**Three Weeks Later **_

Cactuses were interesting, according to Adrian.

And that was why my "wedding planners"—which was just Mira and Jill teaming up to plan my wedding—had chosen my wedding ceremony to be in the desert. They had planned for a whole platinum wedding, but when Adrian and I insisted we wanted a simple, fast wedding, the two unstoppable minds came up with the most radical idea: Adrian and I stood together, hand in hand, going through the process of being officially husband and wife, as we stood before a tall cactus. Mild darkness surrounded us because Adrian, along with other Moroi, would do not well in blazing heat.

Now, we were in the desert, with the sun slowly settling in.

It was wonderful.

There was a series of giggles as Adrian finished promising himself to me, after I had spilled my totally lame, but heartfelt vows.

I was laughing and crying a bit myself.

"The golden question—Sydney, do you take this man to be your husband for the rest of your life?"

"I do," I announced.

"Adrian, do you take—you know what I am going to say. . ."

"Yes, sir. I do. I want to be this girl's husband for the rest of her life."

I giggled. "Sir, he is implying that I am going to die faster. I don't think you should let him be my official husband," I said, teasingly.

The guy from the courthouse grinned; he had graciously come out in the middle of the desert to marry Adrian and me. "Too late, I am already pronouncing you husband and wife. As a matter of fact—I pronounce you husband and wife. Kiss your bride."

Adrian leaned down and kissed me while claps erupted.

Denise's arms found me first, after Adrian finished squeezing me to him. Denise's hug was completely motherly and awesome, I just had to cry. "Sweetheart, I am so happy for you and this man. He is a good boy, I know. You till will have a perfect life together." As soon as Denise let me go, everyone else decided to attack Adrian and me, the happily married couple, with endless amount of hugs and kisses. People we didn't even know gave us congratulatory hugs.

But I was most surprised when Rose and Dimitri came up to us.

I was a bit scared at first, because well. . .of what had happened between Rose, Dimitri, and Adrian.

My worries were foolish. _Adrian _was the one who threw his arms around both Dimitri and Rose, hugging them happily.

The tall guardian was surprised for a second, while Rose was genuine with the hug she returned.

"Thank you both, for coming to my wedding," Adrian was saying to Rose and Dimitri after he released them. "But I think you two are next in tying the knot." With his words, it was hard to believe Adrian had once been madly in love with Rose.

Rose laughed, leaning into Dimitri, holding onto his arm.

Before anyone decided to say anything or make another move, the foreign assassin walked slowly to us, intimidating as ever.

Abe threw his arms around both Adrian and Dimitri, focusing his attention on Adrian. Pretty soon Abe was talking to Adrian with the smooth talking tone that was always filled with so much threat that sent many running to hide under their beds. I was proud of my Adrian; he stayed relaxed. Abe could be pretty frightening, an understatement, but I couldn't really find the words to describe how scary Abe could be.

"You managed to smooth talk my most precious worker into loving you," Abe was saying, giving me a look as he said the last two words, promptly returning his gaze back to Adrian. "I am proud of you, son. Not many people could get through that steel wall that surrounds her. And look at that"—Abe nodded at my pregnant stomach—"you managed to put your kid inside her. But that was not exactly a challenge, was it?"

Seeming annoyed, Rose removed her boyfriend out of Abe's serpent grasp and pulled Dimitri to her side. Even the most badass guardian men could not stay in character when talking to Abe, especially if the badass guardian man was dating Abe's daughter. To keep it short and simple, Dimitri didn't seem too happy to be next to Abe, to say the least. I could imagine how hassled Dimitri was, having Abe as his father-in-law.

I could say by experience—Abe was not an easy guy to deal with.

"Old man, we're in the desert. I am sure your serpent family wouldn't mind a visit," Rose said to him, almost sarcastically. "You can go _stroke _your goatee in front of your rattlesnake cousins, while you discuss criminal business with them."

Although we weren't family, as we laughed and joked amongst ourselves—the family reunion was great.

After the wedding celebration was over—a small party where we celebrated for a few hours—days and days passed with no remorse, leaving us behind, but progressing us to the future. Since Dimitri was doing "extracurricular work", and Rose wanted to be by his side after being given her yearly vacation, Rose and Dimitri had joined us. I was a bit afraid at having them around, well at having _Rose _around because of what had happened between Adrian and Rose. . .but I was assured soon when Adrian told me I was his everything and the past was the past.

Speaking of my precious love—he and I had both settled down, happily in our home, enjoying our marriage life, together and happy, anxious to meet the kid that was kicking up a storm inside my stomach. According to my doctor, I was a week and a day away from finally delivering the baby. Not only _I_ was happy, but Adrian was happy. It wasn't an easy task being married to a pregnant woman, Adrian claimed, especially with how unexpected the moods could be—I could be a little violent at times.

And with Rose and Dimitri around, the two most prestigious guardians of today—keeping Keith and Andrea away would be easy, and therefore, my life was much easier and I could enjoy the smaller details of my life with more ease.

"Look at this," I told Adrian, pointing at the outfits Dimitri and Rose had picked out for me, after going on an all-day shopping spree with Mira, baby shopping spree. "I think they did a good job. I mean, I wouldn't want my baby dressed like me, ready for a business meeting all the time. Everything is set—you even managed to set up the crib without breaking anything," I said, laughing.

"We just need the baby," Adrian said, reaching over to, as he liked to call it, pet my stomach.

Adrian's words must have been some form of jinxing because, in a matter of seconds, I knew I had to run to the hospital, especially with all the water that was gushing out of me, spilling over and wetting the floor. I did not freak out; I had been expecting this for a while—after this, hopefully I could finally sleep during the night, but with all the stories I had been told, I knew sleep would be a luxury from here on out. For some odd reason, Adrian found this hysterical, so he began to laugh, real hard and loud laughter.

His laughter was catchy; I broke out into giggles as well.

"You're going to make me pee all over myself," I said, laughing

"What is the point now? You're all wet." Adrian controlled himself after a minute, but he was grinning from ear to ear, as he helped me up from off the floor where I had been sitting at. "I guess it is time to take you to the hospital."

"You guess?" I snapped, but still I was surprisingly calm. I took in a calming breath, wondering when those labor pains Mira warned me of would come about. "Okay. . .Mira told me to take a shower before I headed to the hospital because. . .the next shower might be at an unknown time."

"Do you need help?" Adrian asked. I could tell _he _was ready to twitch in nervousness. No, he couldn't be nervous. He couldn't be relying on me, when I was sure going to rely on him, on the strength he always showed for both of us.

I shook my head. "It will be quick, I promise."

"Alright, alright. I will get things ready."

I kissed Adrian's forehead. "Calm down, Adrian. It will be okay."

Adrian squeezed his eyes shut, seeming apprehensive. "What if I am not a good supporter during your labor?"

I had to smile. "No, Adrian. No. Don't think about that stuff. Be positive. For both of us. . .because I know I am going to start to go a little psycho pretty soon." When I was done kissing his lips, I set out to my shower. It was a quick shower and when I was done, Adrian had everything in the car, ready to the drive to the hospital.

Things went without drama.

Up until we got to the hospital.

"What am I supposed to do?" Adrian asked, pacing the floor of the hospital room I was stuck in.

I peeked on eye open, unable to bear the pain any longer. According to one of the nurses, or a doctor—I couldn't even keep track any more—first babies were always the hardest, since labors typically took longer. In other words, I had a long way to go. Three hours since my amniotic sac had raptured, when my "water" had broken, I was regretting that wonderful night with Adrian that had led to this baby. And I was also, kind of, ready to murder Adrian. . .

And those spontaneous, almost pointless questions he asked. . .were closely related to the feeling I felt when I heard nails on a chalkboard.

"Adrian, you'll be great. . ."

"What if I faint while you're giving birth?"

"I am sure the nurses will take care of you. . ."

"What if I need to pee as you're pushing?"

"You can hold it in. . ."

"What if the baby does not want to come out? Will I have to pull the baby out?"

"Adrian!" I screamed, trying to remain still. For me, moving only made it worse.

"Sorry, honey. Sorry. I am freaking out."

_And I dying of pain_! "Honey, I love you, but please—please. Be quiet, so I can concentrate on dealing with this pain."

I had a handle on my sanity for a few hours, before I couldn't take it any longer. I asked one of the nurses if I could have medication for the pain, anything so as long as it was not an epidural. A needle in my back didn't sound appealing at all. The medicine she gave me. . .really did nothing for me but make me sleepy and almost delirious, as if I were hallucinating. I still felt the pain, _and_. . .I was not feeling right. I felt _unnatural_, if that was understandable.

But graciously, within the same hour, I was pushing my baby girl out into the world.

A nurse placed the baby on my chest, while Adrian began to cry, happy tears.

With the medication I was given, I could be happy, but I couldn't really see.

I was confused.

I did not know if I was still delirious, if I was it was real—but I managed to see my baby girl's face—she was beautiful. . .but also saw Keith's and Andrea's unkind faces.

"She belongs to me," I heard somebody whisper. I couldn't remember the voice, but I did know I hated the person that had that voice.

My baby—Vidka was what I wanted to name her—was taken out of my arms.

**Well, Keith and Andrea—they weren't done yet. **

**Thanks for reading. I hope you liked!**

**-Melissa **


	17. Chapter 17

**Took too long to update. Finished my FAGE, though. If anyone here reads Hunger Games, go check out my Hunger games fic and tell me what you think. Hmm, there is one more chapter for this story, so if you have any wishes, tell me and they might come true. Well, have fun reading. **

**I don't own all the Bloodlines details in this! I do own the storyline and the words I created to go with it. **

I couldn't completely understand what had happened. For a second, everything was just right and perfect. And the next second, the baby faded from my sight along with Adrian. What had happened was a mystery to all, an unexplainable mystery. The hospital staff could not explain what had happened, why the baby was missing. All they could say was they would try their hardest to get my baby back, words only said to avoid a lawsuit no doubt.

Once the hospital staff was sure I wouldn't jump out the window, a conclusion they came up with due to my extreme hysteria, they left me alone in the desolate room. All I could do was stare out the window in serene desperation; I had to be calm or else the nurses would try to stuff me with tranquilizers and all sorts of useless medications. Despite my protests, a nurse injected me with medicine that made me drowsy.

My eyes closed without me wanting them to. As I was forced to sleep, I wondered what had happened to my baby and where the hell had Adrian gone.

A day and some hours later, I was finally let out of the hospital. Denise and Richard were there to pick me up from the hospital. On the car ride home, I noticed there was definitely something weird happening between Denise and Richard. The sun was shining incandescently outside but inside the car it was as if there was no light, as if a big dark cloud obscured all light.

I felt like the silence was choking me; I finally broke the quietness.

"Denise, Richard, I know you two can't be worse off than I am right now. If you are, please tell me what has you two all gloomy?"

They both ignored me and they acted as if they hadn't been ready to explode in tears seconds earlier.

Richard looked at me through the rearview mirror, smiling at me.

"Sydney, would you like anything to eat? I know how they starve new mothers at the hospital and I am sure you are famished."

I thought about food and immediately wanted to gag. "I am not hungry."

"What about some of that foreign food you like—what is it? I forget the name. You used to love them when you were still pregnant."

The food lifted up my spirits but the "P" word really took them down again.

"I don't want anything," I repeated.

Richard sighed; it sounded so sad and depressing I wanted to jump out of the car to breathe in fresh air, not strong doses of sadness.

Denise put her hand on Richard's shoulder and turned back to look at me. "Sweetheart, is there anything we can do for you, anything you want, besides the obvious?"

I shook my head. I knew without a doubt that Denise and Richard had heard what had happened to me at the hospital. I also knew they were doing their absolute best to help me out.

"I don't think anything will help me now." I closed my eyes briefly, stopping the attack of tears from coming. If I wanted to survive this, I had to be strong. "Do you guys have any idea where Adrian could be?"

Denise seemed confused and concerned. "Sweetheart, I thought he was with you?"

Richard slowed for a red light. "He ran off after Keith and Andrea once he realized what was happening. I haven't seen him after that. I've no clue where he went."

I squeezed my eyes shut. _Great. Just freaking great. Another thing Andrea and Keith managed to rob from me. _

"Sydney, darling, would you like to go home or would you like to join us in our home?"

I hugged myself. "I want to go wherever Mira is."

Now it was Denise's turn to release one of those agonizing sighs.

I put my hand to my forehead and instantly knew what had happened. "Andrea took her baby?"

"She did," Richard replied.

For the first time in the longest time, I reached for the cross I always carried. I also sent out a silent prayer to my God and prayed for the safety of Mira, her baby, Adrian, and my baby.

"Richard, can you take me to my place?" 

Denise immediately objected. "No, Sydney. No. You can't be alone right now. Stay with us. We can protect you."

"Denise, I want to go home."

"Sydney, it is too dangerous to be alone. Keith and Andrea are too into their witch hunt. They won't stop until they catch the wicked witch of the west, which is you. We can't make it easy for them. They already took something valuable from you. Don't let them take something equally as valuable—your life."

"Denise, I am going home, even if I have to walk home." I leaned forward in my seat and took Denise's hand. "I understand that you're worried about me, but Dimitri and Rose are still at the house. They can protect me. They actually have trained to protect _people _from things more harmful than Andrea and Keith. I'll be safe with them." I glanced over at Richard. "Richard, please take me home."

Denise and Richard complained a bit but ultimately I was dropped off at my home.

Before I reached the door, a hand reached out and grabbed my own. I would have been scared for my life by the touch had I not know how it was. But I knew who was touching me. The soft skin and long fingers could not compare to anyone else's in the world. Pretty soon, I was completely wrapped up in those arms I loved to be in, snuggling into the arms that held all the comfort in the world.

"I am sorry," Adrian whispered.

I titled my head slightly so it rested on top of his shoulder. "You did enough."

"Nothing but pass out while I was trying to chase them."

"They took Mira's baby too. How the hell did they do this?"

"I don't know." Adrian rubbed my back, comforting me. "They're really good at being evil, though."

I pulled away, giving him a humorless smile. "Let's go talk to Rose and Dimitri. They've dealt with more dangerous people. They'll know what to do."

Adrian opened the door for me and we walked in.

I dropped all my bags and looked at Rose and Dimitri.

"You're gonna have to teach me how to kill."

**Share the thoughts:)**

**-Melissa **


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